


The Blood That Runs Deep

by Omoni



Series: Slayers Revisited [11]
Category: Slayers (anime)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-21
Updated: 2010-10-21
Packaged: 2017-10-12 19:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/128308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omoni/pseuds/Omoni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>About family, about past debts, and about making ends meet. Takes place roughly 15-20 years post-TRY.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Family

"Out! Now!"

This shout was responded by two giggling voices. Within the giggles were words, but they were too swallowed by laughter to understand.

Gourry Gabriev, who knelt in the sun in front of a woebegone garden that surrounded a modest house, looked up from under the brim of his straw hat and sighed. He looked over in the direction of the voices, and sure enough, the door to the modest house he called home crashed open, and out tumbled two girls, laughing so hard that tears came to their eyes.

"FIREBALL!" was the following response.

Gourry got to his feet, feeling a bit of panic rise up, but it turned out that it was unnecessary to even worry. When the blast of fire followed the girls out, the smaller of the two held up a hand and declared, between giggles, "Balus Wall!"

There was a minute flash, and the Fireball suddenly crash into the barrier thrown up by the girl, where it disappeared. The taller girl and the smaller girl exchanged triumphant grins.

"I regret teaching you anything!" the furious voice declared. The source of the voice reached the doorway, and there stood Lina Inverse, giving her worst Dramata glare to the two.

As one, they turned to Gourry and dashed to him, hiding behind him. Their eyes peered out from begin his back, and from the sounds of it, both were trying hard to stifle their laughter.

Lina pointed at them furiously. "Gourry!" she shouted. "Tell your daughters to stay out of my kitchen!"

Gourry sighed and crossed his arms. "You act as if they aren't even yours," he replied.

"Yuki stole some cheese." Lina growled, her eyes flashing dangerously. She aimed her gaze at the taller girl, who blushed right to the roots of her short blonde hair.

"Oops," she muttered, trying to hide completely behind Gourry.

Gourry, however, calmly reached down and grabbed the eleven-year-old by the back of her shirt. Bringing her up into the air, he stared right into her bright red eyes and asked, "So, did you take some cheese?"

When Yuki reddened even more and muttered a "Yeah," the smaller girl giggled uncontrollably from Gourry's other side.

Lina stormed over, as Gourry placed Yuki back on her feet. She leaned down and looked right at the smallest girl. "And you took some cauliflower, right?" she said, her voice eerily quiet. "Didn't you, Ana?"

Ana lowered her blue eyes and hid her face behind her curly, wild curtain of dark brown hair. "But they taste so good," she protested, sounding miserable.

Lina threw her hands up in the air. "Wolverines," she declared. "I've given birth to wolverines!"

Gourry rolled his eyes. "If that were true, they'd be all hairy."

Both girls dissolved into giggles. Lina glowered at Gourry this time. "Don't encourage them! I already stink at cooking. I don't need help making it worse."

Gourry blinked. "These girls will eat anything you cook them. I don't see what the big deal is."

"Yes, and only because they took after YOU!" Lina shot back. With that, she turned on her heel and stormed back into the house, slamming the door behind her.

"At least she acknowledged that she gave birth to us," Yuki muttered sullenly.

Gourry reached down and ruffled her hair. "Now, now," he chided gently. "You should know better than to sneak food away from your mother. You know how scary she can get!"

"Yeah," Ana chimed in, sticking out her tongue and crossing her eyes at Yuki.

In one move, Yuki reached down to her belt and unsheathed her small dagger. She held it up in the air and shouted, "Start running!"

Ana squealed in delight, completely oblivious to the fact that Yuki wasn't exactly playing a game. As Yuki chased her, Ana's happy giggles filled the yard.

Gourry put his hands on his hips, wondering if he should be trying to chastise them further. After a moment, he shrugged and decided to leave it alone. He knelt back down in front of the garden and eyed it suspiciously, wondering if, somehow, the garden was conspiring against him and doing everything possible to keep him from growing anything.

As he worked, his mind wandered. All around him, he could hear the sound of his life, his family: His daughters shouting and screaming at each other, Lina, his true love, mumbling and crashing pans in the kitchen…

For him, it was bliss.

…well, mostly.

A fraying pan narrowly missed his head as it soared out the window. Gourry ducked and covered his head, in case more followed suit, but the only thing that followed it were the word, "Dammit, I quit!"

Gourry sat down, reached beside him, and picked up the frying pan from the ground. Calmly, he placed it in his lap and waited. Sure enough, Lina once again stormed out and wheeled right towards him. Calmly, as she approached, he held up the pan. With a shout, she kicked it out of his hands. Both watched as it sailed away into the air.

Before it landed, a very small Flare Arrow crashed into it. It moved less than an inch from the impact before tumbling to the ground, finally defeated.

Lina turned her gaze to the source of the Arrow. Ana smiled and waved, then yelped and started running again as Yuki shouted at her and swung her dagger towards her. Both sisters knew that Ana was too fast to get caught by Yuki, and even if Yuki somehow managed to catch up to the smaller, lighter girl, she would never actually slice her sister.

With a sigh, her anger now spent, Lina slumped down in the dirt beside Gourry. Gourry, who still had his eyes on the two girls, reached over and put a hand on her knee.

"Leave the food," he said kindly. "I'll finish it."

Lina sagged in relief. Half-heartedly, wanting to be sure, she asked, "You sure?" in a tired voice.

He nodded, turning to her and smiling. "Yup. You tried, and that's good enough for me. Cooking isn't your thing, you know."

Lina puffed out her cheeks indignantly, but only for a moment. She sighed then and nodded. "Yeah, you're right," she agreed.

The two sat in silence for a moment, listening to their two daughters talking, now that Yuki was tired and Ana was bored. They were too far away to hear the actual words, but their murmurs carried in the breeze.

"You know, I don't mind doing all the cooking," Gourry said, leaning over and brushing a stray strand of hair from her face.

Lina rolled her eyes. "I know that, but I really should learn someday."

Gourry blinked, looking, as usual, confused. "Why? I'm always going to be here."

Lina's eyes softened a little. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. "No, not always."

"Hm?" Gourry tilted his head to one side. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because, you know," she hesitated, afraid that if she gave voice to her worries that it would jinx everything. "Because…you'll go away."

"I don't like going on trips without you," he replied, "unless it's for groceries."

Lina felt a bubble of frustration well up in her. "No, that's not what I…" she suddenly paused. "Why don't you like it when I come with you for groceries?"

Gourry's eyes quickly darted away from hers, and instantly she leaped on him, pouncing right onto him and pinning him into the dirt. "What's wrong with the way I shop, Gourry?" she demanded. "I get everything we need, don't I?"

"It's not that," he squeaked, lying very still and holding his hands up in the air. "It's…your haggling."

"Eh?" Lina frowned. "What the hell is wrong with my haggling?"

"Er…" Gourry's eyes darted away again.

"I mean," she glared at him, smiling dangerously. "I manage to get things to a lower price, don't I?"

"Um…"

"And in doing so, I save money, all of that hard-earned money that we earn six days a week in our shop, right?"

"Uh…"

"So really," Lina said, her eyes glinting. "There really shouldn't be a problem with my shopping."

Gourry grimaced, holding his hands over his head. "I surrender. You win!"

"Say it!" she demanded.

"Your shopping skills are justified and the best in the land," he complied weakly.

Lina laughed in triumph. "Good!" she reached down and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Reward time," she said softly, leaning down. She couldn't help herself. Sometimes, in the most inopportune times, she found that just looking at him could give her simple desire for him.

When brushed her lips against his, he responded by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. She kissed him, and he kissed her back, which brought a purr to her lips. She closed her eyes and nuzzled close, oblivious as he was to the fact that they were lying in dirt.

"Eeww!"

Both jerked apart at this sudden shout, which was followed by loud gagging noises and shouts of, "My eyes, my eyes!"

Lina sat up and glared at her daughters. "How old ARE you two?" she demanded.

"I'm much too young to be seeing this!" Ana declared. "I'm only nine!"

"I'm not too young, but I really shouldn't be seeing it," Yuki said, shuddering.

Lina got to her feet and held out her hand. "I hope you know a good place to hide, you brats!" she shouted.

Ana screamed happily, always thrilled at being chased. Already she was running, waving her hands in the air and screaming between giggles.

Yuki and Lina stared at her. "You gonna follow suit?" Lina asked her.

Yuki shook her head. "Nope."

"At least chase her so she doesn't look stupid."

"That ship has sailed."

Lina reached over, and, with a smile, shoved Yuki lightly. Yuki shoved back. "Ah, you wanna fight?" Lina teased, messing up Yuki's hair. The young girl shouted in protest, putting her hands to her hair protectively. "What a vain girl!" Lina laughed.

"I'm bored," Ana said suddenly, halting her running and walking past the two. She walked right over to Gourry, who was still lying in the dirt. She sat down, right on his chest, and demanded, "Entertain me."

Gourry smiled and scooped her up. "Help me cook."

"Me too, me too!" Yuki cried, running to catch up.

Lina crossed her arms. "You traitors."

"We'll bring it out when we're done," Gourry called. "Have a picnic. Maybe you could make the garden work?"

"Yeah right," Lina replied, but she was smiling. She watched the three of them head on into the house, then knelt down to where Gourry had been and picked up his discarded straw hat. Planting it firmly on her head, she cupped her chin into her hands and stared at the desolate patch of earth.

She was worried that, someday, she would lose him. If she admitted it to herself, it seemed easier to bear. They were both getting older, and both of their daughters would soon leave, more than likely due to the inherited wanderlust. Already Yuki was showing some signs of it, which didn't surprise Lina. After all, she had left home herself at 13.

However, as they all aged, so did her worry. Neither she nor Gourry were THAT old, but she still worried. What could she possibly do without him? When you're used to something, it's hard to adjust when you suddenly lose it.

Plus the fact that she loved him with all of her heart, and if she lost him, she wasn't sure she could cope.

She jolted out of her thoughts when she heard a loud shattering noise, followed by three voices saying in unison, "Oops."

Lina scrambled to her feet, cursing loudly. "What have you idiots done NOW?" she shouted, the hat flying off her head as she ran.

Little did she know that she wasn't the one that was going to lose the ones she loved, but the ones she loved would lose her.


	2. Relatives

Gourry's childhood had not been good.

Often, when Lina was feeling curious (and a little merciless), she would prod him constantly for details regarding his childhood. However, he refused to reveal much, other than he had a brother named Graudy and that Graudy was not a nice person.

On his darkest days, Gourry would look back and wonder if it had all been his fault. His family had been in a constant war over the Sword of Light and who had the right to wield it. By accident, it was discovered that, out of all of them, he was the only one with the mental capacity to use it.

Did that stop the feuding, as he felt it should have? Certainly not. If anything, the discovery that the youngest family member who lacked any real intelligence was the sole user of the blade seemed to enrage them all even more. Disgusted and fed up, Gourry stole the blade and left, not once looking back.

He vaguely recalled almost tossing the sword into a lake, but he had been so consumed with frustration that the memories were hazy at best. He did remember an old fisherman telling him to keep the sword, but beyond that, it was a huge haze of anger.

But now the sword was long gone, back to where it came from, where ever that was…no amount of head-scratching could get him to remember that detail.

Normally, in his new life, his thoughts rarely drifted to those dark days. Sparring with Yuki, chasing Ana, holding Lina in his arms…these things banished those dark thoughts from his mind. He had a REAL family now, so why would he care about some people he shared blood and nothing else with?

Indeed.

"Gourry..!" Lina's voice sang out.

He smiled and turned away from the frying pan to greet her. She slid her arms around his waist and pressed her forehead against his back. "I love sleeping in. Thank youuu…!" she announced.

She gave him a tight squeeze, one that caused the air in his lungs to escape quite quickly, then peered over his elbow and eyed the food he was preparing for breakfast. "Ah, wonderful! Looks like you made enough, too!"

Gourry smiled at her and feigned modestly. "What a small thing it is, compared to my love for you," he quipped.

"Pffft," Lina snorted, pulling away and flicking the back of his head with her thumb and index finger. "Whatever."

He laughed, looking over his shoulder, noting that even such a small thing like extra sleep seemed to make Lina so happy, almost as happy as blowing up bandits.

Lina looked around the kitchen, tossing her long, thick braid over her shoulder. "Oy," she said suddenly, "where are the brats?"

"Out back," Gourry replied without hesitation, turning back to the pan and flipping the kippers with a spatula. "I heard Ana screaming a while ago, and Yuki was swearing, for real, that she was going to cut her up. Ana seemed to find the whole thing a great amusement."

Lina let out a sound of astonishment. "They never quit, do they?" she wondered. "Even before they have anything in their stomachs!" She shook her head, privately wondering if she had been that insane, especially so early in the morning, and on an empty stomach. It was something she would have to ask her mother in the next letter, surely.

Which reminded her. "Did Gimble come by yet with the mail?" she asked, already making her way to the front door.

"Yep," Gourry replied. "I was just too lazy to grab it."

"As usual!" Lina chided. She opened the door, and, true to his claim, there on the doorstep lay a pile of letters, addressed to them. She scooped them up, humming happily to herself.

One of her favourite things that came along with having an address was the ebb and flow of the letters that came with it. Once a week, Gimble, the county's mailman, would make his rounds and deliver the letters on the first day of the week.

The first day of the week was always one of Lina's favourite days, next to Saturdays and anniversaries.

She sifted through them. One was from her mother (with flowery stationary), another from Filia (the envelope looked stained with small fingerprints and was crumpled at the edges). There was a nice fat one from Amelia (who had the tendency to describe every little DETAIL) and a thinner one from Zelgadis (which had seen better days, as it was tattered and flecked with sand).

All of these (with perhaps the exception of Filia and Zelgadis's), were normal, weekly occurrences. It was the strange, rolled up letter, thick and tightly bound, that drew Lina's attention away from the others.

It was addressed to Gourry, and Gourry alone.

"Gourry," she called, making her way back to the kitchen. "You have a weird letter thing." When she reached him, she tossed it to him.

"Eh?" He caught it, looking as confused as she felt. If this had been ten years ago, she would have opened it first without asking, but she had gradually (with difficulty) leaned to respect Gourry's privacy (no matter how damned curious she was).

"Weird," was all he said. He tucked it into his apron pocket, then started dishing out the food onto plates for everyone. "You might want to call the girls in."

Lina bit her tongue, swallowing the demand that basically ordered Gourry to open the letter and read it to her. Instead, she opened the back door and screamed out, "FOOD!"

Soon, both girls were in the house, panting and with leaves in their hair.

"The hell?" Lina gaped at the two of them, appalled. "Get yourselves clean! I won't have dirty, leafy children eating anything in this house!"

And with that, breakfast went as it usually did with the four of them squabbling and grabbing at what good they could get. And after that, the day itself progressed as it usually did, with Yuki and Ana shuffling off to their morning school, and Lina and Gourry opening their shop.

The store that the two owned was a standard, decent-sized shop. Business was pretty good, as they were situated in a sparsely populated area that was practically straddling the border of two slow-paced towns. Travelers and townspeople alike always stopped in, either for Gourry's weapons or Lina's magical items.

Plus, it was also a prime location to flush out and attack the bandits in the area, something that Lina, even in settling down, had never outgrown. It was also something, she and Gourry agreed, that would never be taught to their daughters (until, Lina secretly vowed, they came of proper age).

Usually, on days that the mail came in, once the two had opened shop and readied everything for the day, Lina would crack into the letters and, occasionally, if business was slow, read some of the content to Gourry as he washed and sharpened his blades.

"Hmm…" Lina said today, skimming over Filia's letter. "Val seems to be growing up slower than what Filia is used too. Even with Jillas helping, Val tends to be…" she scanned the letter and landed on an appropriate sentence. "'Outrageously loud and sometimes violent! It's almost as if he's been this age forever!'"

"Maybe Val's people age slower?" Gourry suggested, testing the weight of a rapier by slicing the air.

Lina laughed. "Or, it could be that acting as Val's stand-in mother is much harder than she anticipated."

"True," Gourry nodded sagely. "Kids sure are crazy."

"To say the least!" Lina replied, smiling at him. She put Filia's woeful letter aside and picked up Amelia's. "Ah, this one goes on…" Lina frowned, counting the pages. "And on and on…about…" she read a little before going on. "About how much responsibility she has as crown princess. Whoa!" Lina actually crumpled the pages she was holding in surprise. "She's complaining!"

Gourry sheathed the rapier, satisfied, before looking up with interest. "Oh?"

"Yup! Listen: 'If only my older sister Gracia would hurry up and come home. Then I wouldn't be crown princess and I could go back to being myself.'" Lina burst into laughter.

"If she's actually complaining, it must be bad," Gourry conclude, unable to stop himself from smiling a little.

"Only because she can't slack off and play cutey travelly princess anymore!" Lina crowed. "All of those years that she whined at me, saying that I was too reckless and should settle down…HAH!"

"But you did settle down," Gourry pointed out mildly.

"Not because of her!" Lina shot back, setting Amelia's novel of a letter aside. She picked up the grubby one sent by Zelgadis. "Now let's see what our favourite chimera has to say," she said, opening it.

"Hopefully something about his cure," Gourry replied, walking over and leaning on the desk where Lina sat.

Lina was quiet, her eyes passing over the written text rather quickly. With each sentence, her eyes widened even more.

"What is it?" Gourry wondered. Wordless, she handed him over the letter, and he read it:

" _Lina, Gourry,_

 _I decided that you would be the first to know. I've been wandering, on and off for years now, trying to figure out a cure for myself, without truly realising and understand what exactly it means to be cured._

 _I say on and off, because as you know, from time to time I find myself back in Seyruun to see Amelia. I've noticed that, in recent years, these visits have become more and more frequent. And recently, it's made me wonder what it is I'm really searching for._

 _It's taken me way to long to figure out the obvious, something I'm sure you have both known for all of these years._

 _I'm going back to Seyruun, and I'm going to stay there. That's my cure. That's where I belong._

 _I just thought you should know._

 _Zelgadis"_

"Huh," Gourry said, blinking.

"One word: FINALLY," Lina replied, laughing again. "It only took him a decade to figure out the OBVIOUS."

"Well, I guess," Gourry said hesitantly. "But do you think it's such a good idea?"

Lina gaped at him. "Why wouldn't it be?" she demanded.

"Er, well…he's not human!"

"So? Amelia loves him. Who cares?"

Gourry scratched his cheek. "The people of Seyruun might."

"To hell with them, then," Lina waved her hand at him. "Open up your letter and tell me what it says!"

"Eh?" Gourry frowned. He blinked hard, then it dawned on him. "Oh!" he reached into his pocket and pulled it out, slightly crumpled. "I don't think it'll be as interesting as Zelgadis's letter, though."

Lina bounced to her feet and dashed over to him. "Read it, read it!" she pleaded.

Gourry rolled his eyes and opened the letter. Lina watched as his eyes scanned the paper quickly. She watched his face closely, looking for any specific reaction. Sadly, all she got was a blank look.

"Well?" she pressed, unable to take it anymore.

"It's from Graudy," he said flatly. His eyes were dark, but his face was schooled blank. "He wants the Sword of Light back."

"Uuuh…." Lina tilted her head to the side. "He's about, what, thirteen, maybe fourteen years too late now? What the hell has taken him so long?"

"Dunno," Gourry shrugged, his eyes back on the paper. His voice was very quiet, but Lina wasn't fooled by his nonchalant act.

Gently, she reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand. "It upsets you, this letter," she said gently.

"Wouldn't it upset you?" he wondered, lowering the letter and looking down at her. "So many years of silence, and now the only contact I get is a demand for something I don't even have anymore."

Lina gave him a moment of silence, still holding her hand to his face. When she felt it was right, she asked, "What will you do?"

"Tell him the truth," he answered, surprising her. "I don't have it anymore. I can't give back what I don't have."

"I know," Lina said, blinking away her shock. "But why respond at all?"

"I dunno," Gourry shrugged. "Something I have to do, I guess."

Lina opened her mouth, then closed it. This was his family, and his personal conflict. She would support him, and support whatever he decided in it, but no matter how much she wanted to control it, it wasn't her business.

And that was that. By the end of the day, the letter was written and sent on its way.


	3. Duty

The letter came with unusual speed into the hands of Graudy Gabriev. It was intercepted, of course, by the Palace Guards, as all letters were in Elmekia. Run by a rather tyrannical king, everything and everyone was under constant scrutiny and held suspicious. It had been the way of the kingdom for so many decades that no one batted an eye anymore when they found that their packages had been inspected or their gifts impounded.

Graudy, being a general, and thus a bit higher up on the social ladder, found that, while his letter had been read, it hadn't been censored. If it had been a civilian's letter, the words "Sword of Light" would have been blacked out.

He found that the letter came at a bad time. He was holed up in his tent, on one of the many Elmekian boarder holds that monitored any activity in the area, coming in or going out. Rumours had been piling up for several months that, due to the iron fist of the king's rule in Elmekia, the neighbouring towns were teaming up to quash his influence and maybe even overthrow him.

Graudy admitted that, indeed, Elmekian influence had been leaking outwards from the country. The king, a victim of his own paranoia, subjected the surrounding counties and countries to strict and impossible rules for trading goods. The rules were, honestly, a joke. It was impossible for anyone but the Elmekians to profit from these rules, from at the same time, these rules also made it impossible for the countries to boycott Elmekia's goods for the simple reason of survival. It was a neat and cruel trick, one that kept Elmekia very rich, but not very popular.

Because of this, and because of the king's exacerbated paranoia, army camps, such as Graudy's, were situated all along the boarders. All were manned by hardened and seasoned soldiers of both sexes, although the leaders, like Graudy, tended to be prone to harsh treatment and glints of madness.

Blame the pressure of the job, or the selection of the people, but these camps, especially Graudy's, had morale that was as low as it could get, all from the hands of their own generals. Despite this, rebellion never occurred, but this was out of fear, not loyalty, for what kind of punishment would come if they dared.

On this day, Graudy's perpetual dark mood was already soured by the growing rumours. To get a letter from his thieving brother that was dripping with lies was enough to give him an eye-twitch for the rest of the day. It was a simple letter, but it was enough to enrage him.

" _Graudy –_

 _I don't have the Sword of Light anymore._

 _I had it for a while, but then it was destroyed._

 _That's all,_

 _Gourry"_

The prose itself stank of Gourry and his soft-headedness, so Graudy had no doubt that the letter was from him and not from his – he shuddered – _wife_ , Lina Inverse.

Graudy had heard of the marriage from his mother, who, despite her harsh demeanor, seemed somewhat relieved that the dumbest of her two sons had managed to find a wife. Of course, she refused to attend the wedding; they all did, out of spite of Gourry's duplicity. Surely, Graudy thought at the time, Lina knew that no one from Gourry's family would come, but she had sent the invitation anyway. Graudy now wondered if she had sent it fully expecting that they would ignore it, and sent it just so that she could say she had.

Granted, he could have gone to the wedding and taken the sword back from his brother with force, but he hadn't needed it then, and he needed it now.

Gourry had no love for his family. They all knew that, and they punished him harder for it. The only one he had loved had been their grandmother, who lived on the outskirts of Elmekia, and who, out of all of them, treated Gourry like a person, and not like the accident he was.

But then, Graudy thought, crumpling up the letter and tossing it to the floor, Oba-san had been a screwball as well. When she passed away a few days before Gourry left with the sword, only Gourry had gone to the funeral. He had come back, his face streaked with tears, but with his jaw set in anger.

Graudy hadn't realised it then, but during the funeral, Gourry had decided that there was nothing left for him within their family. Graudy knew, with hidden glee, that Gourry, now that Oba-san was dead, had every intention of leaving, for nothing kept him there. His mother, his father, and Graudy were all waiting for him to leave. It would have been a relief. At the least, it would mean much more food in the house.

But Gourry didn't just leave. He left with the Sword of Light. Yes, he had grown up watching his family fight over the right of the sword. Yes, it turned out that in the end, he was the only one with the strongest will to wield it properly. But that didn't mean it was his to take.

Graudy had tried the direct and honest approach when it came to getting the sword back, and instead he got lies in return. Now he had to admit that he needed to use force, but since he was so tied up in quashing the rumoured rebellion, and since it was the Sword of Light, said to be the most powerful sword in the world, he needed…help.

But the help he had found wasn't exactly orthodox. Or sane. And this help had actually come to him first, had offered their assistance before he even knew he would need the sword back from his helpless fool of a sibling.

Their father was dying, and wanted to hold the sword in his hand when he died. Of course, Graudy would take it after that, but as much as he and his father had clashed throughout their lives, Graudy felt that it was his duty as a son to fulfill this wish.

Of course, it helped that he wanted to get his revenge on his little brother, as well. That was a bonus.

Still, though. Even thinking about this person was making Graudy uncomfortable, but he knew that he could probably count on this person. After all, he said he had a history with both Gourry and Lina.

"Is that letter from Gourry-san?" a calm, musical voice asked.

Graudy jumped from his chair and turned around. Think of the devil, he thought, truly startled. He hadn't even FELT the guy come in, and there he was, looking cool and cheerful, like he always did, ever since Graudy had met him.

The man stood, calmly, wearing what Graudy recognized to be priest robes and holding a shabby-looking staff. With bright purple hair framing his small face, a face that always displayed closed eyes and a big smile, if Graudy had been meeting him for the first time, he would have thought that the man was an army toy of some kind.

But Graudy had been in contact with the man, who called himself Xellos, for several weeks, now, and had discovered that while he seemed whimsical and air-headed at best, when it came down to it, there was intelligence there. And it was that intelligence that Graudy needed, and intended to use, to reach his own goals.

They may share a common ground, but that didn't mean Graudy trusted the man, or liked him. Luckily, in business like this, he didn't have to.

"Yeah," he grunted, nudging the crumpled paper with his foot. "Simple, idiotic, and full of lies. Just like my brother."

Xellos raised his eyebrows. "Lies?" he echoed, his voice mildly surprised. "You believe Gourry-san to be full of lies?"

Graudy paused. He had noticed, since he had started working with Xellos, that the strange man tended to use "-san" at the end of Gourry's name all the time. It made Graudy suspicious, an honorific used for a common enemy, but that was before he had spoken to Xellos at length. He even used "-san" when he referred to Lina, but not to Graudy himself. He figured that it was part of Xellos's weird persona, using the honorific when there was no honour due.

Graudy grunted in reply to Xellos's comment, sitting back down. "Do you think he's being honest here? Of course he still has the Sword of Light. He just doesn't want me to have it, after all of these years, despite getting married."

Xellos visibly twitched at the mention of marriage. "Ah, yes, the marriage of the two," he said, his voice a bit tight.

Graudy looked over at the man in interest. "You had heard about it?" he wondered.

"Who hadn't? It was certainly rumour-worthy," Xellos replied cheerfully. "After all, Lina-san's popularity is nationwide."

"Yeah," Graudy scratched his head. "What the hell is up with that?"

Xellos made a non-committal noise as an answer before moving on. "In any case, it's safe to assume that Gourry-san is not going to give you what you want."

Graudy narrowed his eyes. "Exactly," he agreed, his voice practically a snarl.

"Then we can continue on with the second part of our plan, Graudy?"

Graudy looked over at Xellos again. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn that the priest was excited. "I still don't understand why you would even want to bother," he admitted

Xellos played with the staff in his hands idly. "It's simple logic, Graudy: if Gourry-san continues to keep something that you believe is yours, then wouldn't it be logical to take something that he considers his?"

Graudy frowned, scratching his chin. "I dunno…" he hesitated. "I mean, it's not really my style. I was just thinking of robbing him and getting the sword back, maybe beating the shit out of him as a bonus…"

"I assure you, Graudy, that Gourry-san is made of tough stuff," Xellos said calmly. "What we intend to do will make him crumple into nothing without touching him at all, thus exacting your revenge."

"But why do you even want to do this, anyway?" Graudy wondered. "What could possibly come of it for you?"

Xellos waved a finger at him. "That's a secret," was his reply.

Graudy rolled his eyes. At least three times in the last few weeks had Xellos said that to him. He was already used to it, but it didn't make the phrase any less annoying.

He shrugged. "Whatever. As long as Gourry realises what an asshole he was for stealing the sword, and I get to make him regret it, I'm happy."

Xellos nodded. "Shall I go right this second, then?"

Graudy frowned. It still seemed, to him, like Xellos was enjoying this job too much. "If you want," he said uneasily. "Just keep her the hell away from me."

"But of course," Xellos said calmly. Slowly, his eyes opened, revealing purple eyes glittering with something Graudy could never fathom. "I intend to keep Lina-san all to myself."

"Good," Graudy shuddered. "That woman scares the shit out of me."

The eyes closed, and once more Xellos's face was a mask of joviality. "That proves you're human, then," he said happily. He bowed low. "If you'll excuse me…"

With a sound like rushing air, Xellos was gone.

Graudy blinked. He would never get used to that. Nor would he understand why or what Xellos wanted Lina Inverse for. But if the result was the same, and it would get the message to Gourry that he shouldn't mess with Graudy, well, it was still success.

He leaned back in the chair and went back to pondering the upcoming rebellion, and what he would say to his father about the sword. Let Gourry handle the rest.


	4. Theft

It was almost twenty years ago that it happened.

Neither of them could remember, exactly, how it began, or when they both decided to accept that things had changed. Or, more accurately, both could remember, but since they had both decided at separate times, it was less awkward to claim they had no memory.

For Lina it was this.

When she woke up, alone, in a deserted inn room, her cheeks wet and her heart shattered, she knew that, eventually, she would screw up the courage that was needed to admit to Gourry that she couldn't be with out him, even in theory, and she would do anything for him. When Phibrizzo threatened her, taunted her with the prospect of killing Gourry to make her obey, her resolve only hardened.

 _If I get through this, he'll know I love him. If I live through this, he'll know I can't be without him._

For Gourry it was this.

When he heard the words spoken by Lina-who-was-not-Lina, that she had sacrificed everything she was just so that Gourry would live, he knew. He had an inkling earlier on, especially in Seyruun, when Kanzel insisted on making their lives a living hell, and he had thought that he had lost her over the floating island thing. But he knew for sure, when the Lina-who-was-not-Lina lifted an arm and pointed at him, proclaiming the reasoning for Lina's actions, he knew. He even had to close his eyes from the truth of it.

 _If I can save her, or even just hold her one more time, it will be enough for me. I want to save her._

Oh yes, they had both decided many years beforehand that they were both stuck with eachother. The trick was actually getting either one of them to ADMIT it.

Lina was fiercely stubborn. Gourry was slightly bashful. Both knew that even trying would quite possibly get them the answers they didn't want, especially if it was rejection. Both had, even without saying a word, agreed that it was probably better to pretend that things were the same and that nothing had changed, despite the fact that, in actuality, everything had.

For a while, anyway. But that was a different story.

For the two of them, the fight against Phibrizzo had been the key to their relationship, then, and now. And it was also that fight that would be used against them.

X X X

The night was pleasantly cool. Lina decided well in advance that this was the time to keep the windows open. Fresh air always helped her sleep better. She coined it to the fact that for most of her life she was on the road, used to sleeping outdoors, that she had actually gotten used to it so much that she couldn't sleep without it. It was usually a nightly fight that she had with Gourry, about how she needed it but how he would freeze to death because she was insane. And then, lately, Yuki or Ana (or both) would pitch in with their own opinions, all deciding that, yes, they agreed with Gourry, and that, yes, Lina was indeed insane.

At which point she would tell them all to go to hell and storm out, something they always laughed at her for.

Would she trade those fights and nights slept in the backyard for anything in the world? Never.

Did she ever picture a time without them? She thought about it, when Yuki and Ana were adults and they left home on their own adventures, that she would be able to get used to their absence. But now, when they were still a constant, she didn't think she could bear it. She wanted everything to stay the way it was, insults on her sanity included.

That night was no different. Lina lay in bed with Gourry, curled up against his back, reveling in the tingly feeling that their naked skin touching always gave her. The thrill of lovemaking and being intimate like this was the one constant that never wore out for her. Granted, it wasn't as exciting as it had been when things were new, and more often than not they fell into easy patterns and routines, but it was still thrilling, still amazing, that she could touch him like this and say in her head 'he is mine, and he is real,' and be absolutely right.

She couldn't sleep, however. Most of the time, lovemaking with Gourry wore her out so quickly that she would fall asleep right afterwards, him usually with her. But that night, he was alone in his slumber. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something was off in the air. Something was making her keep her instincts on hair-trigger.

She wasn't sure why. She lay there, her eyes shut, her fingertips tracing the many scars that ribboned Gourry's back, and she struggled to figure out a reason why she was feeling so restless, but no answer came. The feeling was akin to when she was much younger, when she just KNEW that something was going to happen, something soon, and something irreversible. She never got hints then, and she had no hints now.

But some part of Lina wasn't surprised. It had been a couple of weeks since Gourry had sent a letter. She certainly hadn't expected Graudy to be peachy with the response given by Gourry. She knew, deep down, that Graudy was going to get his revenge eventually, so she wasn't completely surprised. But she was so enveloped within her own world, this world created with Gourry, that even the slightest bit of action was thrilling and unexpected. And it had been a long time since any kind of action, save bandits, had made its way to her.

She opened her eyes with a snap. She sat up quickly, frowning. Something was there, she sensed. Something was definitely there. As she got to her feet and grabbed her clothes, Gourry sat up a moment after her, already wide awake. He knew that look on her face, the look that made her eyes harden and her mouth tight. He followed her, yanking on his clothes. "What time is it?" he asked, his eyes on hers. "What is it?"

"Late, and I don't know," she answered. She tied her hair back with a paintbrush and grabbed onto her sword, buckling it on over her nightdress. Gourry blinked at the sword, then grabbed his own, doing the same. "Keep quiet. I don't want to wake up the brats."

Gourry nodded, and without another word, Lina turned and walked out of the room. He followed closely. Over the years they had been together, there weren't many opportunities had that involved either of them getting into real fights. This would be the first time in a decade that Gourry felt the thrill and the fear of fighting for his life. He didn't welcome it, but he didn't hate it, either. And he was comforted by the fact that, even though it had been a decade, they were still both completely intune with eachother.

Silently, Lina and Gourry crept through the dark house, Gourry following Lina closely. Lina's eyes were narrowed in the dim light, expecting at any second that something would jump out and grab her by surprise. The first thing she wanted was to draw whatever was there away from her home and her children. That was the number one priority her mind. Next, she would find a way to get Gourry safe, but that would be after she was clear of the house.

Together, they left out the back door, shutting it tightly behind them. With a mutual nod, the two broke into a run and headed towards the forested glade that their house backed onto. Despite being less than dressed for a fight, Lina found that she had lost the deeply programmed modesty that she had been born with. It was different, when you were an adult, when you were a mother, different because both forced you to display yourself bare to the people you loved, and it was deeper than being close to naked any day. And besides, it was a miracle that she had found the time to get dressed, anyways. Beggars couldn't be choosers.

When they reached a clearing close to the edge of the glade, they stopped. Lina held her hand out at her side, her lips moving in silence. Gourry drew his sword slowly, his eyes flicking from one place to another. As a Fireball sparked to life in Lina's hand, Gourry's eyes landed on something that moved to his left.

He lunged towards it, but it was already gone, his sword hitting nothing but leaves. Lina turned, not releasing the magic, her eyes flashing in the dim light of the Fireball. Slowly, without a word, the two turned around and stood back-to-back.

"Something or someone is definitely out here," Gourry growled under his breath.

"Graudy?" Lina wondered, her voice also angry.

"Maybe," he admitted, "although he was more into busting in and making a scene when I knew him."

"Heh," Lina said without humour. "Even his attack methods stink of asshole."

Gourry smirked, shaking his head. "I don't think this is Graudy," he concluded.

"Who, then?" Lina wondered.

"Me, Lina-san."

At the sound of the voice, something cold and paralyzing surged through Lina. Without so much as a breath, she turned away from Gourry, spun on her heels, and fired her Fireball right into the trees. It made contact with a blast of light, the branches catching on fire.

"Shit," Lina hissed. "I didn't think."

"Lina?" Gourry said softly, worried. "Who was there?"

"At least that much hasn't changed!"

Both turned to the sound of the voice, this time in the opposite direction. The small area was lit by the blazing trees, and thus Lina could see the figure walking calmly into the glade without a care in the world.

"Aw, damn," Lina groaned. "I was right."

Xellos stood there, not an inch of him changed since the last time they had seen him, which was that horrible night after they had defeated Gorun Nova. He looked the exact same as he did a decade or more ago, the same priestly robes, the same purple hair, the same shabby staff. And, Lina noted cynically, the same bastard smile.

Xellos looked insulted. "My, that's hardly the proper way to greet someone you haven't seen in so long," he admonished lightly.

"Wow," Gourry said, lowering his sword a little, "he hasn't aged at all. That doesn't seem fair, does it?"

Lina smiled his way. "Ah! So you actually remember him!" she said.

Gourry frowned at her. "You honestly think I'm that stupid, don't you?"

Lina, as a bluff, turned away from him and towards Xellos, just so that she wouldn't have to answer. "You know, Xellos, we do have a door," she said calmly, her eyes flicking from the flames in the trees to Xellos.

Xellos nodded, waving a hand in the air idly. "But this way is far more interesting," he admitted.

"Er, Lina?" Gourry said nervously. "You may want to do something about the fire. Before, you know, it destroys our home?"

Lina nodded and held out her hands, but Xellos beat her to it. With a casual wave of his staff, the flames flickered and died out, as if they had never been.

"Er, thanks?" Gourry blinked.

Lina frowned, her eyes narrowing. She turned to Xellos, her hand on her hip. "So, Xellos, since you fail to believe in using the front door, especially during hours that we're usually awake, I assume it's safe to reason that this is hardly a social call."

Xellos nodded, lowering his staff, the smile never fading. "You guessed it, Lina-san."

Gourry tensed instantly, raising his sword once again. "From experience," he said tersely, "if you're here for other reasons, they can't be good."

"Usually," Xellos shrugged. "That's the hazard of the job, isn't it?"

Lina was tired of this already. "Okay, Xellos, enough stupid banter. Why the hell are you here?" she snapped it out, her fingers already itching to make another Fireball. "Business? And if so, why now, after all of this time?"

Xellos shook a finger at her. "You're a very impatient person, Lina-san," he said in a scolding tone. "You don't even wait for people to explain it to you first."

Lina smiled, and this time, it was her feral smile, the very same that earned her such a feared reputation. Between her hands, a Fireball flickered to life once more. "Explain it, then, or else I won't miss this time."

Xellos sighed, scratching his head. "Very well, Lina-san. I'll put it bluntly: I've been assigned a task by my master. I was told to meet with the human Graudy Gabriev -"

Beside her, Gourry stiffened.

"- and help him in his quest to get the Sword of Light from his errant brother."

Lina could not believe what she had just heard. "Are you kidding me?" she demanded. "Of all the people in the world, you know best of all that Gourry doesn't have the Sword anymore! What could encouraging Graudy possibly get for you and your kind?"

"Well, when Graudy was rejected, he didn't quite believe Gourry. So we made a plan together, and because Graudy feels that you are keeping something from him, he feels that he should keep something from you." His eyes opened a slit, and they focused on Gourry.

Gourry stood, his jaw clenched, holding his ordinary sword in his hands so tight the hilt bit into his palms and stung. "So you lied to him. Goaded him on. So that you could, do what, exactly?"

"Take what is yours," Xellos shrugged, the smile that was permanent on his face twisting into something meaner.

Lina suddenly felt her insides turn to ice. "No," she said, the anger in her voice causing a tremor in the word.

Xellos turned to her. "No?" he echoed.

"No," she repeated. "You come within ten MILIMETRES of them and I will find a way to make you suffer a thousand times over."

The venom in her voice was so apparent that even Gourry was stunned. Then it clicked for him, too, and he tensed, his sword poised, his eyes narrowed.

Xellos opened his eyes all the way, looking bewildered. "You think...I want your children?" he said.

Lina took a step forward. "If you try, I will kill you, Xellos," she promised. "Nevermind that you're so much stronger than me; I'll find a way."

Xellos paused, staring, before he laughed a full-bodied, unhindered laugh. Lina was so startled that she stumbled forward. Gourry grabbed her, also incredibly confused by the sound.

When he finished, he wiped his eyes and shook his head. "What could I, a Mazoku, want with two young human girls who haven't even reached puberty yet?" he shook his head again. "Oh, no, Lina-san, Gourry-san, the thing that I want is much, much more valuable."

Lina and Gourry looked at eachother, completely at a loss. Lina shook her head and held her hands out, the Fireball sparking to life again and growing. "You won't get a chance to even try!" she shouted. Gourry nodded, baring his teeth, and as one, they both jumped forward towards Xellos, who stood there calmly, as if waiting.

Gourry held up his sword, and with a shout, Lina launched the Fireball directly into the blade. It hit with a burst of flame, then enveloped the blade, giving the sword an eerie orange glow. Gourry ran forward and swung the sword towards Xellos. He knew he would miss, just as Lina did, but the first shot wasn't meant to hit, and they both knew it. It was to send a message.

Xellos phased out, just as they had both expected. When he came back, he was perched on a tree right above Lina's head. He jumped down, his staff out in front of him. She jumped back, grabbing onto the sword at her hip, and she swung it out just in time for Xellos to parry it with his staff. He pushed down, hard, and she grunted, bending her knees to take the weight and to try and shove him off.

"You don't even know what I want and yet you're willing to fight, even die, for it," Xellos said his voice quiet.

"You're interfering," Lina panted, trying to push him off. "It's enough!"

Gourry's sword, still alight with fire, suddenly sliced between them. Xellos jumped back, landing on his feet, and Gourry stood in front of Lina as she caught her breath and stood her full height.

"What I don't get is this, Xellos," Lina said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You came to Graudy to help him get back a sword that you know we don't have, and yet you still insist on fulfilling your part of the bargain, despite the fact that you know we're not hiding anything. Which means one of two things," here, she held up two fingers. "One is that you started this journey just for the free meals that you would get from Graudy by aggravating him, and then later, from aggravating us." She lowered one finger, the index. "Or, two, is that you initially were sent by your master to retrieve this item anyway, and Graudy was just a convenient twist, one that would be a personal attack on us, just to make it hurt more." She smiled, her eyes narrowed. "I'm betting is the second one, right?"

Xellos's eyes were open halfway now, but they were dark. "That, my dear Lina-san, is a secret."

"Then I'm afraid this visit will have to be cut short," Lina responded, holding her sword out, pointing the tip right at him. "Get lost, Xellos. You're not getting what you want tonight."

Xellos tilted his head to the side, his eyes glittering. "And you think you can just tell me what to do?" he wondered.

At that same time, she felt it in the air, the sudden rush of incoming power that surrounded Xellos, and she tensed. This wasn't just a game for Xellos this time around. For all of the years that she had known him, there was rarely a time that Xellos had felt the need to call on the extent of his powers. Usually in these cases it was FOR Lina and her comrades, not AGAINST them. This time, it was much, much different, and she felt afraid, truly afraid.

"Gourry," she said tensely, "we have to run."

Gourry nodded. "Give the word," he replied.

Lina turned her eyes back to Xellos, who was now surrounded by black and crackling power. His eyes, wide open, were shining bright purple. The fear she felt increased, because those eyes were on HER, and they would not look away, no matter how hard she glared. She felt herself suddenly start to tremble. She had seen that look before, when they were fighting Dark Star. He wasn't just summoning power. He was summoning Shabranigdu's power.

"Lina?" Gourry's soft voice snapped her out of her reverie. He grabbed her shoulder, hard, and shook her, and she held onto his forearm for balance. "I'm fine," she said tersely. "Let's go!"

Without another word, they both sheathed their swords, turned, and ran further into the forest, away from their house. They had to get as far away from their house as possible, Lina thought. And once they had, she could really let loose, and use everything she had to get rid of Xellos.

She wasn't a fool. She knew better than to think that she could kill him. There was no way, with his high level, that she could. But if she wounded him enough, enough to get him to retreat, then they stood a chance.

She hoped.

From behind them, suddenly, it was then that they realised it was too late. A shockwave crashed into them from behind, knocking them both off their feet. Working on instinct, Lina reached out the last second and found Gourry's hand, which was outstretched to grab hers, and she held on, tight, so that they wouldn't get separated.

It worked. Both Lina and Gourry smashed to the ground, winded. Lina tried to assess just how bad the hit had been from the amount of pain she was feeling. It hurt like hell, but she still felt it, so it couldn't have been fatal. When she tried to move, she could, despite the aches she going doing so.

She squeezed Gourry's hand, and to her relief, he squeezed back. She heard him groan, and she opened her eyes and looked over. He was in the same state that she was, only it looked like he had been hit harder on the head. A trail of blood streaked down from his forehead and into his left eye. But he was okay, she told herself, squeezing Gourry's hand again, and feeling it returned weakly. Hurt, but okay.

Heart racing, Lina let go of his hand and pushed herself to her feet. She drew her sword again, muttering under her breath, just as Xellos came back into view, right in front of her. She didn't hesitate, didn't stop, despite the fact that all of the joviality was gone from his face, and instead, he looked completely and utterly like what he was: a demon.

"Yield, Lina-san." She looked up, and saw that Xellos was only a few feet from her now. He held out his staff, the jewel shining a sinister red. With a jolt, she realised that it was pointed at Gourry. "Yield, or he dies."

Lina felt her mouth go dry. She tried to keep chanting, tried to keep the spell, Dynast Bras, going, but the fear in her heart kept forcing her to stutter and start over again. Her sword hand shook, and she felt cold sweat spring to her brow. Everything had changed, into this one extreme, where suddenly they were fighting for their lives, and she didn't think she could face it. Not with her heart involved.

"I don't understand," Lina started, her voice quiet. She tightened her grip on her sword, lowering her head. She only had one chance, she had to make this work..."What could you possibly want from ME?" On the final word, she lunged forward, everything be damned, swinging her sword with all of her might, so hard it hurt her shoulders. The blade burst into light from the force of her will, as she meant it to, as she designed it to.

Xellos didn't move, but he lowered his staff away from Gourry. He made no move to fend her off. She wasn't sure what it meant, but she took it. She swung again, the tip of the blade coming close to him, but he jumped back, his eyes now trained on her.

Have to keep him away...have to drive him away...

Her eyes stung from the sweat that dripped down from her forehead, from the effort of willing the sword ablaze and the extent of her injuries, but she persisted. She HAD to.

Gourry could hear her fighting, could hear her shouting, and could feel the power that Xellos was using to deflect her hits, but his body wasn't responding to his desperation. He tried, he kept trying, to get to his feet, to grab his sword, ever since Lina let go of his hand. But something was wrong. He realised, dimly, that he must have taken a blow to the head, because his vision was blurry and everything felt heavy. Despite knowing this, he still tried to move, still tried to get up, because he could hear Xellos laughing, he could hear Lina's frustration, and it was making him desperate...

"Ah," Xellos suddenly said, his eyes flicking over behind Lina. She swung one more time, but this time, he didn't move back. Instead, he moved forward and grabbed her blade with his free, and bare, hand. Lina growled and pushed forward, panic forcing her to react against him. He merely smiled blandly, his eyes still focused behind her.

That distracted her. She turned, the briefest of seconds, to see what he was looking at, and he reacted. He let go of his staff, and without waiting for it to vanish, grabbed onto Lina's forearm with his other hand, hard. She cried out, his touch like acid on her skin, and she let go of her sword, trying to pull her arm back and claw his hand away from hers. As a response, he dropped her sword, reached out and grabbed her other arm, and this time, she screamed out, the pain sudden, like stab wounds, and much, much worse.

"Such a lovely sound," Xellos said calmly, his voice playful. Lina glared up at him through tears, his image distorted. "The meals you offer are always the best."

"Drop dead," she grated out through gritted teeth.

"Where's the fun in that, Lina-san?" he responded. His eyes glinted, and his hands tightened on her arms, increasing that same acidic feeling. Lina shut her eyes, but this time managed to swallow her scream.

Gourry heard all of this, too. He heard it all, and it was then that he realised, then that he understood, and realised that Lina did not. It was like a bucket of cold water. He tensed up, dug his fingers into the dirt beneath him, and pushed, hard, pushing himself up and onto his hands and knees. He reached to his side, grabbed the hilt of his sword, and pulled it out, using it as a lever to get to his feet. He stood, shakily, his vision blurred at the edges, but he managed to stand, sword held out, without falling.

In his mind, he was in agony. Of all of the people, and of all of the times for this to happen, he would have never guessed that it would be Xellos and it would be now. He never guessed that, of all people, Xellos had so much vengeance and hate in him for Lina and himself.

But then he wondered: Other than when it was convenient and suited his needs, when had Xellos ever cared? He didn't step in to save Lina from Phibrizzo. He was the one who had led her to him.

In the guise of a friend, Xellos had duped them all. And now it came back to claim the prize.

 _Again._

"Ah, well, well," Xellos said softly, looking over to where Gourry stood. "Seems like someone is awake enough to hear what I have to say." He smiled, his eyes glinting. "I thought her pain would be enough to wake you, Gourry-san."

Lina's eyes snapped open. She stood, still held up by Xellos, but hunched over, her legs giving out. She jerked up and tried to turn around. "Gourry, get back, he'll-"

Xellos dug his fingers into her arms, and she yelped, bowing back before hunching over again, gasping. Gourry growled, edging closer. "Let her go, Xellos," he hissed out, his eyes boring into Xellos's. "You don't want to do this."

"Ah, but Gourry-san, that's where you're wrong," he said, a thin smile playing on his lips. "I've been lying in wait, wanting to do this, ever since I laid eyes on her and saw what kind of power she had. I had to wait, a decade and more, before I could get my hands on her...do you think I won't relish every second of it?"

Gourry stepped closer, his eyes never leaving Xellos's, although the very action sent chills down his spin. Xellos smiled wider. "Something for something, Gourry-san," he said. The words made Gourry tremble. "You took something that means alot to Graudy, so now, I'll take something for Graudy that means alot to you."

"No," Gourry cried out. "No, no...Don't!" He started forward, breaking into a run, his eyes stinging. He brought his sword back, ready to swing, aiming right for the smirking bastard's head.

Lina, in her haze, heard Gourry's voice breaking with emotion, and she looked up, her head feeling like it weighed a million pounds. She couldn't even think of any incantation for a spell. She couldn't even feel the sword in her hand...had she dropped it? The only thing she heard was Gourry, and she opened her eyes, saw him coming for her. And at that same moment, she felt the sudden rush of power from Xellos. She shook her head, her throat sore. It couldn't end like this.

And she found a spell.

"Diem Wing!" she screamed out. From her hands, a blast of rushing wind gusted out and blasted Gourry back away from Xellos. She then turned her focus on Xellos, and she reached down and dug her nails into his arms, as hard as she could.

Xellos didn't make a sound, but he turned from Gourry, who had landed, hard, several feet away. "Don't...touch...him..." she growled, her eyes sparking with rage. "Or I'll kill you."

He smiled at her. "As you wish, Lina-san. Shall we go instead?"

Lina felt her blood turn cold. "Wh-" she protested.

His grip tightened on her. She tried to pull away, but it was too late. Without another word, they vanished from the forest.

Gourry lay on his back, the blast of Lina's spell having knocked him out. He didn't even know that she was gone, and that he had failed.


	5. Struggle

"Okay," Lina said, slamming down a scroll on the table in front of everyone. They sat, while she stood. She unrolled it and gestured for everyone to come closer. Everyone but Zelgadis squished around her to see better. "Come on, Zel, don't be a prat," Lina scolded him.

He made a face at her. "You really give me more credit than I've earned, to think that I actually care about this."

Lina scowled at him, but Amelia was already distracting her from her right side. "Lina-san, Lina-san," she said, sounding distressed. "You've planned the whole thing in Seyruun!"

Lina nodded. "Of course I did!" she smiled. "It's the most scenic, and you said that if there was anything you could do, you would!"

Amelia clenched her fists. "I didn't mean financially put up an entire village!" she snapped.

"Oh, quit your whining," Lina growled, getting right into her face. "This is my plan, my day, and besides, no one said you had to pay for it!"

"Lina-san," Sylphiel said calmly from her left. "It says it right there in the right-hand corner: 'Amelia will foot the bill. More money saved!'"

With a nervous laugh, Lina reached out and tore the corner off, crumpling it up and tossing it over her shoulder. "It never said that!" she declared. "Now, back to business!"

It was a sunny day, but cool enough to be outside. Everyone was there, with a few exceptions: Martina and Zangulus, because, and this is quoted, "We need time to bless Zoamalgustar-sama with a proper heir!" accompanied with shrill laughter and embarrassed sounds from Zangulus, who was hiding in the next room; Filia, Jillas, and Gravos, because there was a slight chance that Valgaav's egg would hatch and neither of them wanted to miss it, Naga, because Lina had no idea where to find her, and Gourry, because Lina physically had thrown him back inside.

However, that didn't mean that the turn-out was bad. She still had Amelia, Zelgadis, Sylphiel, sometimes, her sister and mother. The parties missing, with the exception of Gourry and Naga, all promised that they would make it in time for the actual event in question that they were planning for.

Lina was back home, in her hometown, just in time for the nicest weather: not too hot, not too cold. It was the perfect weather to be outside and talk up a storm, and plan the biggest, most badass wedding that all of Zephilia would ever see.

"Lina-chan," a voice chided from the doorway. "You know that Papa has enough money. Stop trying to mooch off the rich."

Amelia sighed in relief, gazing at Lina's older sister, Luna, with watery eyes. "Thank you, Luna-san," she said.

Lina bared her teeth at her sister. "Oh, yeah? And what will you do if I say that I would rather have Papa save his money for himself?"

In a flash, Luna was right in front of Lina with her butcher knife out, held right under her chin. "I would say, please stop acting like a stupid spoiled brat."

Lina's laugh was high-pitched and grating. "You're right, you're right! I see the logic of your ways!" she squeaked out.

"I wish we had had that method back when we were traveling," Zelgadis piped in from his corner of the table. "It would have saved us alot of money."

Lina was in his face in a flash. "What did you say?"

Sylphiel dragged her back calmly, handing her back the scroll. "Now, now. Say we decide that you still want to hold it in Seyruun," she said soothingly, as Lina glared at both Luna and Zelgadis in turns. She wondered if they had both planned it, this ganging up on her and her spending habits. Sylphiel tugged on some of Lina's hair to get her attention, which she got, accompanied by a glower. "You could still have your father pay for it," she concluded.

"But then I won't have everything I want," Lina whined.

Amelia sulked. "It serves you right for trying to take money from the royal purse."

In an instant, she was in a headlock. "We're going to settle this right here and now!" Lina shouted.

Zelgadis stepped in and easily rescued Amelia from her grasp, pulling her away. "Are you going to act serious about this or are you going to continue to act like a brat?" he wondered, setting Amelia down a safe distance away from Lina.

"But it's my wedding!" Lina cried, sounding every inch the brat.

"Lina, are you twenty, or are you two?" Luna wondered casually. "Because I've known you as a two-year-old and I hear no difference."

"I hate you all!" Lina announced. She grabbed her scroll and stormed back inside of the house, stomping the ground with each footstep. She then slammed the door behind her, and they could hear random crashing and banging noises inside the house.

"Perhaps we were too hard on her?" Sylphiel wondered, always the peacemaker.

Luna tossed her hair over her shoulder. "She'll get her second wind in an hour," she declared with a laugh.

Suddenly, above them, a window opened from inside the house. "What the hell did you do to her?" Gourry demanded, sounding panicked. His question was answered by more laughter, this time, from everyone involved.

X X X

It was hot.

All he could feel, besides a fierce pain in his head, was the sun beating down on him, and the sweat that was his body's reaction to it.

He didn't know what time it was.

He didn't know what day it was.

It had been a long time since Gourry had thought of those days, the days planning the wedding. At first, when it came to it, he wondered why Lina wanted such a big production in the first place. He was already devoted to her, already committed to her, so why did they need such a fancy ceremony? Lina's response was to glare at him and state that every maiden dreams of this day. He then, innocently, responded by pointing out the obvious: That she wasn't a maiden anymore, and hadn't been since that cold night on their way up north to visit Filia. Her reply was to beat him upside the head and storm out of the room. From then on, he was uninvited from the events that planned their wedding.

Why did he dream of it now?

He heard a voice. It was a girl's. It sounded so familiar. He wasn't sure where he was, or what was going on, but that had to be Lina's voice. Was she going to yell at him again for interrupting the planning again?

"Daddy!" the voice was saying. "Daddy?"

He felt someone shaking him, lightly, on the shoulder, followed by small fists hitting him on the chest. "Daddy, get up! Can you hear me?"

Then he remembered.

Xellos. Fighting. Getting hit on the head. Lina.

Lina...

He inhaled sharply, then opened his eyes. "Lina," he grated out, his voice gravelly. He coughed, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. All he could see were blurs, and the sun seemed to be too bright.

"Here," another voice said, this one steadfast and calm, and deeper. "Drink this, Dad."

A waterskin was forced into his hands and he drank. All at once, the cold liquid seemed to lift the fog from his head, and he nodded. "Thank you, Yuki," he said gratefully. He handed it back to her, then pushed himself up, sitting up and leaning forward, his head in his hands.

Both Yuki and Ana sat in front of him. "How did you know it was me?" Yuki asked, looking both worried and shy.

Gourry didn't look up, but he laughed faintly. "You inherited your mother's calm and collected persona in the face of panic."

"Daddy," Ana moaned softly. He looked up, and saw that she was already in tears. "We woke up, and saw you were gone, and couldn't find you. We couldn't find you! Where's Mommy?"

Gourry felt his stomach clench, hard. He felt his heart speed up, his face crumple at the sudden memories of what had happened before he was knocked out. He tried to keep it together, but it was hard. When it came to everything, Lina was always the strong one. She always held everything on her shoulders, always had instructions for everyone. Without her, he felt panicked, confused, terrified. He also felt as if a piece of his heart had been ripped out and squished in front of his eyes. He lowered his head again, into his hands, and tried to take in deep breaths, tried to collect his feelings, tried to put on a mask for his daughters.

But he couldn't.

When his eyes started to sting, he couldn't hold it in. His shoulders shook, and he managed to keep his sobs quiet, but it was a battle. It was the most difficult thing he ever had to do.

"Daddy," Yuki crawled closer, putting a hand on his shoulder, swallowing hard. "Something bad happened to Mom, didn't it?"

He nodded. He, at that moment, was so grateful for his oldest daughter. Ana was still too young to understand, but Yuki had always known that Lina was Gourry's one true weakness, one true soft spot. She was raised the longest in a household where the two parents loved eachother so much. She had grown up watching Gourry's eyes follow Lina everywhere, making sure she was safe and close by. He knew, and knew that Yuki knew, that it was all too much, and that he just couldn't get it together yet.

"Where's Mommy?" Ana whispered.

"Ana-chan, shut up," Yuki snapped. "Dad," she said gently, putting her arms around his neck. "Do you think you can walk? How badly are you hurt?"

Gourry nodded. "I can walk," he said gruffly, barely above a whisper.

"Ana-chan," Yuki turned to her sister, who was trembling. "Run ahead and see if you can find something, anything, to clean him up."

To her credit, Ana only uttered a squeak before getting to her feet and running off towards the house.

Carefully, Yuki helped Gourry get to his feet. When he was steady, they started walking, Yuki hovering close to him. "What happened, Dad?" she asked quietly.

Gourry shut his eyes, lowering his head, but it was too late. Yuki had seen the tears. "We were attacked, your mother and I," he said thickly.

"Bandits again?" Yuki wondered, her heart racing. She knew how to stay calm, but that didn't mean she wasn't just as afraid. She hadn't seen a trace of her mother anywhere.

He shook his head, then winced, rubbing his forehead. "No," he answered through gritted teeth. "I wish it had been."

Yuki swallowed hard. "Dad, bandits aren't exactly something to wish for," she chided lightly.

Gourry smiled thinly. "She would have been able to handle bandits."

"Dad," Yuki said carefully, unable to hide the tremor in her voice. "Is Mom...dead?"

Gourry bit his lip, then shook his head, slower this time. "I don't know," he admitted.

Yuki opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Ana's voice. They both looked up, noticing that they were close to the house now. Ana ran towards them, carrying an armful of bandages and potions, crying the whole time. "I-I grabbed everything!" she burst out before dropping it all to the ground and dissolving into tears.

"Oh, Ana-chan," Gourry dropped to his knees before her and gathered her up into his arms. Yuki leaned against his shoulder, stroking Ana's hair, and before any of them knew it, they were all crying, Ana with gut-wrenching sobs, Yuki and Gourry with silent tears and sniffles.

When Ana's sobs died down, and she moaned out, "I'm so hungry,"

Gourry scooped her up with one arm and took Yuki's hand with the other. He didn't think he could eat, but life couldn't end because there was a crisis. Lina would be the first to say that they would be useless without a proper meal, because how else could they function without nutrition? Especially a family like theirs.

As Gourry went about, slowly, to fix them an easily made breakfast, Yuki led Ana to the living room to rest. When she came back, she silently helped Gourry make the food.

He didn't know what to do, or say, to his eldest daughter, who was so like and so unlike him in so many ways. She had so many traits like his, like the blonde hair and how good she was with a sword, but so many of it was from Lina, too, like her temper and her slow-to-panic demeanor. Yet, at times like this, she was an enigma all her own.

"Tell me, Dad," she said now, looking up from the frying pan. "Where is Mom?"

He sighed. "Do you remember Xellos?"

Yuki blinked, wondering if he was changing the subject. "He's in so many of your stories. The Mazoku, the Priest for-"

"-Juuo Zelas," Ana finished, coming into the kitchen. Yuki frowned at her, but she ignored her, sitting at the table. "Only head servant of Juuo Zelas. Over a thousand-" she hiccupped, "-years old."

And that was where Ana was different. She seemed aloof and silly, like Gourry, but then, when she spoke seriously, she has tons of information to declare.

Gourry nodded. "Right," he agreed, flipping the sausages with a spatula. "Well, we hadn't heard from him since we got married. He stayed for the ceremony, but then, suddenly, left. It's been over a decade since we saw him last, and suddenly we saw him again last night."

Yuki dropped the pan onto the stove abruptly, her hands shaking. Gourry turned to her, thinking she had burned herself, but when he looked, he saw that her face had gone chalk-white. "Did he kill her?" she gasped out.

Ana cried out in shock, covering her eyes.

"No!" Gourry said hurriedly, then paused. "I don't think he did. Listen," he set the pans down and turned to both of them. "Listen. Girls, I know you didn't know, but I do have a brother."

Ana shut up at once. "You do?" she blinked, her eyes wide.

He nodded. "He's...not nice," he said lamely. "In any case, somehow, he managed to hire Xellos to..." his voice choked up, and he grabbed onto the countertop tightly, taking a breath against the sudden clog in his throat. "...to get back at me. So he took your mother. He took Lina."

Yuki's eyes blazed, the red colour sparking. Ana went eerily quiet, and when he looked over, he saw that, to his shock, he wore a look similar to his own: that of dismay, but of determination mixed in as well. "What do we do?" Yuki asked, her voice shaky.

Gourry smiled faintly. " _We_ do nothing," he answered, turning back to the pans. He got down three plates and started dishing out the food. " _I_ have to find some way to get her back."

Yuki frowned, but instead of answering, started thinking. Ana was crying again, but quietly.

The breakfast was somber and lonely. Lina's absence lingered in the room, hovering over them like a heavy cloud. It didn't seem real, didn't seem like a reality.

Gourry longed for solitude. He loved his girls, very much, but the thing he wanted most was time to fold up and cry, mourn, grieve for his loss and then start to plan. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and all he wanted was time to get it all out, to lift the cobwebs of his sadness so that he could actually THINK for once...

"We should go to Seyruun," Yuki said, her mouth full. Gourry snapped out of his reverie and looked up, to see that Ana was nodding. "We should ask Amelia-san what she thinks."

Gourry shook his head. "I don't think we should involve anyone else in this," he said, silently adding, _I don't want anyone else to get hurt._

Yuki looked up at him. "Dad, I love you, but you can't do this alone. You're not strong enough, and you love Mom too much."

Ana was nodding harder now, so much that Gourry worried that she would smack her head on the table. "Auntie Amelia will know what to do!" she exclaimed as she bobbed.

Yuki went pink. "And maybe Zelgadis-san, too."

Gourry raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing. The handful of times that the family had made the trip to Seyruun and visited, Zelgadis had been there half the time, and each time she laid eyes on him, Yuki was speechless. Lina had suspected that she was afraid of him, but now, Gourry wondered.

"Seyruun, huh?" Gourry repeated, frowning down at his plate. It would be hard, going without Lina. What if she came back while they were gone? What if Xellos tried to contact him? What if...what if...

The more he thought about it, the more he realised how right Yuki was. He couldn't think seriously about it. If he tried to think about Lina, about those last fragments he remembered before it all went black, he felt like he was falling down a black pit and couldn't breathe. The only way he got out was by focusing on the faces of his daughters, and it was enough. If they went to Seyruun, not only would he no longer be alone, but he would be able to grieve. He needed to grieve. He needed to be with adults, people who understood the depth of his fear and his pain.

A thud tore him from his thoughts. Ana had finally smashed her head onto the table. She held her head and whined, her eyes watery. "It was your fault for being so dumb!" Yuki snapped, her eyes flashing, her lips twitching. She was trying not to laugh.

He smiled. It was small, and it hurt, but he managed it. "Seyruun," he repeated. "When we're done, we'll go to Seyruun. You're right, Yuki-chan. We need help."

The smile faded. They needed all the help they could get. He just hoped it would be enough.


	6. Payment

When Lina came to, it was with force. She slammed down, front first, into hard, unforgiving concrete, and she gasped, the impact forcing the wind right out of her. The pain rocked through her body, and for a moment, she blacked out again without control.

The second time she woke up, she felt horrible. Her arms were killing her from where Xellos had gripped them, and when she looked, she could see that the skin was torn and bleeding slowly. She wondered when the hell Xellos's touch became that way, but then realised it was pointless to try: obviously, Xellos could do whatever he wanted with his corporal form.

She coughed, hard, then rolled over on her side, muttering the words to Recovery under her breath. She knew she was alone, for the moment. She couldn't feel Xellos, or anyone else, around her. She wasn't sure why he decided to make himself scarce, but she took advantage of it.

She wasn't prepared for this. All she had of use was her sword (which, she noticed with shock, was lying at her side, even though she had dropped it). Well, of course her spells, but even those could be taken away from her. She was barefoot and in a nightgown. She hadn't even thought to grab anything of use. She didn't even have her headband. Hell, she wasn't even sure she had that paintbrush in her hair anymore.

She groaned, more out of frustration than from pain. She shut her eyes and rolled onto her back, shivering. Wherever the hell she was, it was freezing, but her eyes were blurry and she couldn't make much out yet. She figured, once she had her arms healed, she would be able to figure out just how badly off she was.

When she thought about it, she knew she had no choice. There was no real way to fight back, at least not seriously. She knew that that was how Xellos had planned it in the first place: To catch both her and Gourry unawares so that he could victimize them...sounded alot like him, actually.

But why was he so eager to grab her?

She sighed, a lump forming in her throat. She hadn't meant to hurt Gourry when she blasted him away, but she knew, she KNEW, that Xellos would have killed him if he had come closer. It was better this way, better to face him one on one, woman to...man? Thing? She smiled, the gesture hurting a bit. Thing, definitely.

Once her arms were healed, she opened her eyes and looked at them. Gratefully, she could see better, and could also see that her arms were better. She pushed herself up and finally looked around, seeing what kind of hellhole she was in now.

And there wasn't much to it. It was dark, dimly let by dusty chandeliers that looked older than the dawn of time. The ground beneath her was unadorned and rough stone, and the walls and ceiling were made up of the same. She felt no outside air, no ventilation, no natural light. It was as if the place sucked out any type of reality.

One could go insane if left in here too long...

Slowly, easing the sword from its sheath at her hip, Lina got to her feet, her instincts on hair-trigger. She was wary to cast a spell in this place. It wasn't just the lack of...ANYTHING...around her. It was the inability to ascertain where she was, and what exactly she was dealing with. Firing off random spells may have worked when she was younger, but now, especially when facing Xellos, it seemed...impractical. Foolish, even.

Besides. She felt horribly exposed, and horribly naked. Why call attention to herself?

She looked around, focusing on steadying her breathing. Over the years, when things had calmed down, she and Gourry had finally managed to get serious about training her with a sword. Although she wasn't as skilled as he was (but who was, if you thought about it?), she liked to think that she had improved greatly over time. One of the first things he had taught her was to control her breathing or else she would never mind a true opening for attack.

 _Gourry..._

Lina sighed, lowering her head, clutching onto her sword tight. She really, really hoped that he was okay. She had faith in her daughters, faith that somehow, before it was too late, they would find him. From there, well, she wasn't expecting a rescue, but as long as they stayed safe, she was content.

A sound of rushing air burst out from behind her. Without hesitation, she turned on her heel and swung her sword, hard. The sound breezed by her ear, then sounded again, further behind her, now in the opposite direction. She didn't even blink. She gripped the sword, shouted out, and, as the blade burst to life with a fiery glow once more, she dashed forward, aiming right for where she sensed the source of the sounds stood.

Xellos phased into focus, reached out, and grabbed the blade of the sword, smiling brightly. At least his eyes were closed this time.

 _Dammit,_ Lina thought. I _really have to think of a new move. He keeps catching the stupid blade._

"Ah, ah, Lina-san," he chided gently. "That isn't a way to greet your host."

"My host?" Lina echoed, a chill running down her spine. Before she could truly conclude what he meant, he was already attacking. She felt the power burst out around him, and although it wasn't strong enough to kill, if she got caught, she was in big trouble.

At first, she was reluctant to release the sword. It was her only surefire weapon and she was also very proud of it. But Xellos decided to make the decision for her, by tightening his hold on the blade, and, without even twitching, snapping the blade into bits.

Lina jerked back, feeling the sudden rush of bloodlust emanating from him. She had never felt anything so sickening in her entire life, but there it was. And it was aimed towards her.

Without thinking, she threw the hilt of the broken sword at Xellos, but it merely bounced off him and clattered harmlessly to the ground. She started backwards, trying to outmaneuver him, but he was too fast, and had many, many years of experience in fighting over her. She managed to get a few steps back before he closed the distance and grabbed her, with one hand, by the throat, dragging her back close to him.

At least his hands weren't painful this time, she thought sourly, gritting her teeth and digging her nails into his arm. It was then, she realised, that he wasn't squeezing, nor was he trying to hurt her. He was just...holding her in place. She could breathe fine. She just couldn't move. The bloodlust she had felt was - mostly - gone.

"Ah, for someone of your age, you sure know how to move fast, Lina-san," Xellos laughed, opening one eye and grinning.

Ah. This wouldn't be an attack on her person. It would be much, much worse. "You're a million times older than me!" she shouted. "I'm not even forty!"

"And yet, you hardly look different," Xellos replied, letting go of her casually. She jumped back, but not too far away, afraid he would grab her again. He made no move to do so, however. Instead, he stood calmly, leaning on his staff, looking her up and down in a creepy kind of way. "You look hardly a day over twenty, the last time I saw you."

Lina rolled her eyes. She knew that wasn't true, but she wasn't going to get into it. Arguing with a Mazoku about age was like trying to teach a squirrel how to do black magic. Even if it was funny to attempt it, it still didn't work.

She tensed, looking around, trying to see if there was some way to get out of the place.

Xellos opened the other eye, so that both were on her. His gaze pierced her. "You won't be able to escape, Lina-san," he said, any trace of mirth gone from his voice. "This entire place is sealed, and you will find that you won't be able to as much as sneeze without my knowing it."

 _Ah, hell, that confirms it,_ she thought, suppressing the urge to sigh. She was right, then.

She was on Wolf Pack Island, the stronghold of Greater Beast Zelas Metallium.

"Okay," Lina said, trying to stay calm, despite the fact that her palms were starting to sweat. "Get to it, then. Why am I here? And why are you back? I told you never to come back."

Xellos nodded, taking hold of his staff and holding it with both hands. He started to pace in front of her, and as he did, he swung the staff in slow lazy circles between his hands. "The thing is, Lina-san, that human lives are a game for us. We watch them come and go in the blink of an eye, despite the fact that your kind has entire lifetimes in that short span."

Lina bit her lip, swallowing a caustic remark. He went on.

"There are a few times that the occasional human will come to our attention and end up a curiosity for us, one that we feel we must watch and pay attention to, lest they slip from our fingers. Individuals with power, strength, speed...they interest us."

Lina couldn't help it. She sighed. This was worse than she had expected. She was actually expecting some sort of fight, and while it had started that way, now it had turned into a lecture about things she knew as a teenager. She almost would have preferred the fight.

Xellos stopped, looking at her with a small smile. "Ah, but, perhaps you already knew that," he said cheerfully. "In any case, as you may have guessed, you're one of those humans."

Lina crossed her arms over her chest. She was getting annoyed now, and even a little cold, due to her bare legs and feet. "I guess you're going to tell me why?"

She then felt it again. Another surge of that nauseating bloodlust. She put a hand to her throat, choking a little. She felt as if she was going to be sick.

Then, just as suddenly, it was gone.

"You see, Lina-san," Xellos went on, as if nothing had ever happened. He even resumed his pacing. "Several decades ago-"

"I'm not that old!" she shrieked, her pride getting the better of her. "No matter what you say next, I AM NOT THAT OLD."

Xellos turned to her, startled, then he laughed. It was a familiar laugh, the one he had used on their travels together, when all he seemed to be was a strange but jovial priest that you couldn't quite trust. "Fair enough, Lina-san," he agreed. He opened his mouth, but she overrode him, already tired of his games.

"I can guess what this is about," she snapped. "I'm hardly as naive as I used to be, when I followed you blindly into things I shouldn't have gotten involved in. This has everything to do with Phibrizzo, and what happened during the fight between him and me. And the Giga Slave."

Xellos smiled, but his eye twitched.

She smiled back. It wasn't a nice gesture. "Of course it is," she said. "Because I screwed it up. He had killed me, and the Lord of Nightmares took me over. It manifested on this world, gained a physical body, and even though it killed Phibrizzo with no noble cause, the fact that it came, on this world, not only messed up the physical balance, but, in killing Phibrizzo, the Astral balance as well. And even though it went back to the Sea of Chaos, because I came back, it's still off. Something is still off. Right?"

Xellos's smile was gone. His expression was dark, sinister. "You know too much for your own good," he hissed out. And there it was in the air again. That horrible, hateful bloodlust.

Lina shook her head, her own smile vanishing. "No," she said softly, her eyes dark. "I've been thinking about it lately."

It was true. For some reason, even though she had no idea why, despite her usual daily routines, in her spare time, she often found her thoughts back in Sairaag, in the heart of the city, standing alone against one of the Five Retainers. The more she thought about it, the more none of it made any sense.

It was true, when the souls of the dead pierced her heart and caused it to burst, that she had died, and the chaos ran out of control. But the actual spell itself, seeing as how it was a spell to bring the Lord of Nightmares into the physical world, had still worked. It worked as it should have; only Phibrizzo hadn't known that, and he attacked. And no one likes to be attacked for no reason, so it attacked back, and killed him.

But as for the rest...she had managed to piece it together over the years, with help from her friends and Gourry. The only things she remembered was how cold everything went, and how all she could see was golden light, and then...and then...

But her friends had other things to add. Like how, with her dying thoughts, Lina not only managed to summon the Lord of Nightmares into the world, thus actually casting a complete Giga Slave, but she had wanted it to save Gourry's life. It WAS true, the thought about saving Gourry. Embarrassing, but true. However, Phibrizzo attacked first, and, well, it got sidetracked.

In the end, because of that, it had to return to the Sea of Chaos. But Gourry, stupid, loving, selfless Gourry, actually chased after it, and managed to summon Lina's soul back from the void as well. Or had it been that way? Was it Gourry who had sent her back? Or had it been...it?

Either way, the balance was still off. When the thing that called forth nothingness into existence is sent back to nothingness but ends up returning to existence...it was all confusing, but it was plain to see the imbalance.

"So I'm here to die," Lina concluded calmly. Her voice was steady, but her entire body trembled. She knew she had been dealing with things way over her head back then, and knew that someday, she would pay. She just didn't think it would be this soon..."It took you several years to find the means, but now, I'm here to die." She smiled weakly, looking up at him, trying not to choke on the bloodlust surging from him. "I'm right, aren't I?"

Xellos stood there, silent. It was almost as if he was trying to calm himself down. His eyes burned into hers, so strongly that she wondered if she would still see them if she shut her eyes.

"Well, Xellos," she said, her voice suddenly thick with anger. She tensed, getting into fighting stance. "You know me. Despite the fact that I'm at a serious disadvantage, with no weapons, no amplifiers, and no back up, I'm still not going down without a fight. You know that, right?"

"There are always options, Lina-san," he answered. His lips twisted into a facade of a smile, and she felt a chill. She knew, she just knew, that the options he would offer were worse than going down fighting. They always were.

"Okay, Xellos," she replied. "Let's say I humour you and listen to what you have to offer me. If I actually chose one of the options, that's it? You won't go after my family, you won't use whatever it is to gain control of the world, or hurt my friends?"

Xellos looked at her in disbelief. "You act as if you've never met a Mazoku before," he answered bluntly.

Lina sighed. "Ah, I figured. So even if I agree to whatever terms you're offering, there's no guarantee that it'll end up better than it is now, anyways."

"Of course."

"So why bother even offering?" she snapped, his bland answers grating her last nerve.

"Because you and I both know that your death would be a horrible waste," was his explanation. He held out a hand, one eye shutting. "Even Juuo-sama agrees, and she loathes you and everything to do with you."

So then. That only meant that whatever options she had were far worse than death. For her, and for her family. Hell, probably for the world.

"Okay, Xellos," Lina said finally, easing out of her stance. She sighed. "I'm curious. What are the options?"

Xellos opened his eye again. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"They're my options, aren't they?" she snapped. "I SHOULD know them, right?"

He shrugged. "Fair enough, Lina-san. You have two options. Both are preferable, but it really IS one or the other. No third option. Sorry."

He didn't sound sorry. She wanted to bitch-slap him into the next millennium. Instead, she stood there, glowering at him.

"The first one I know you'll say no to, but I think is the best one, for both myself and for you," he began, holding up one finger. "You die, at my hand, and become a Mazoku, and serve Juuo-sama."

Lina snorted, the derisive sound filling the hollow room. It was the only thing she needed to say.

Xellos nodded, his smile widening. "Remember, Lina-san: It's one or the other. Don't be so quick to dismiss it yet."

"The second one, Xellos," she growled.

"Ah yes, the second one," he held up another finger. "The second one is more complicated, and more dangerous, but would solve everyone's problems: Cast the Giga Slave, let us kill you, and allow yourself to be consumed by the spell and return to the Sea of Chaos."

Lina felt her blood turn to ice.

Xellos laughed, watching the colour drain from her face. "I told you that you would prefer the first one!" he sang out. "And of course, in the process, this world would be consumed by the spell, but, hey, all's fair in war, isn't it?"

"I don't think that's how the cliché goes," she said weakly.

She had to admit, it was perfect. They had her completely nailed. Either way, she would be at their mercy, and either way, they would get what they wanted.

Another chill went up her spine, her mind coming to a conclusion. There was a third option. One that he would never go for. One that she would rather use as a last resort, but would solve everyone's problems neatly and tidily. But not yet...not yet.

"So those are my options," she said hollowly.

"Indeed."

"And you decided to do this, this late in my life, now, instead of right after, when I came back, why?"

Xellos shrugged, smiling blandly once more. The air was thick with his murderous miasma. "We didn't have the strength until now. After all, you've been killing us left and right. We needed the time to not only get our losses back, as well as think of a plan that would completely and utterly leave you at our mercy."

Lina smiled sadly. "And that you have," she admitted.

Xellos nodded. "I'm a merciful Mazoku, Lina-san," he said suddenly. Lina almost snorted again, but she held it in check. "I'm willing to give you time to think it over."

"How long? A minute?"

Xellos pulled a face. "I'd like to think I'm fairer than that. An hour, of course."

Lina sighed. So, a minute to him, but an hour to her. "Of course," she echoed.

"So, thus, you have an hour to decide. Remember, don't try anything stupid, and you don't have a third option." Xellos's eyes sparked. "One or the other, Lina-san. Choose wisely."

In a rush of air, he vanished.

Lina sank to the ground covering her face with her hands. She didn't cry, but she wanted to, desperately. Instead, she breathed, in and out, trying to stop her shaking.

An hour. That was all she had.

And one she didn't need. She already had her answer. The real question was, how could she put it into motion?


	7. Aid

It took them two days to reach the outskirts of Seyruun. Despite lack of experience, both Yuki and Ana made good travelers. Granted, Ana was prone to whining, but it was still progress. He was used to whining on a journey, anyway. It made the trip less lonely, the absence of Lina less obvious.

Not only would Gourry refuse to let either Ana or Yuki out of his sight, but both girls seemed to feel the same way, and even shared a tent with him, making sure he wouldn't be stolen in the night like their mother had. They clung together, a family on the edge of crisis, unsure of what to do except stick together and hope to be strong from it.

The city on the horizon was a welcome sight. Gourry was already starting to fray at the edges from keeping all of his emotion packed inside like storage. Once he reached Seyruun, and found Amelia, he would be able to actually talk about everything, and thus focus on a solution to the problem. Without that release, all he could do was focus on the pain and loss of it all. It was getting him nowhere.

He needed friends. He was glad he had them.

"I'm hungry," Ana suddenly whined.

Yuki shoved her so hard she teetered over and almost fell. "You're always hungry," she shot back.

Subtlety, Gourry walked over and stood between them, putting a hand on each of their heads. They both fell silent and moved closer to him.

"Daddy," Yuki said softly, her voice thick. "Do you really think that Amelia-san will know a way to rescue Mom?"

Gourry said nothing. He just continued to pet her hair. He couldn't say anything. He shut his eyes, took in a deep breath, and gently pulled his hands away. Without a word, he started ahead, and the two girls followed, the pensive cloud hovering over their heads.

X X X

Once they reached the steps to the Palace of Seyruun, Gourry was starting to wonder if it was all such a good idea. Getting more people involved would only make things a mess, but...Yuki also had a point as well. He couldn't do this alone. He could never do it alone. Not since he met Lina. And now that Lina was gone...

"Daddy, are we going to go in? Those guards look like they're going to eat us," Yuki said, her voice carrying a note of urgency.

Gourry looked over, and sure enough, the soldiers guarding the doorway to the Palace were eyeballing the three of them with more intensity than he thought was really necessary. None of them wore armour, and Ana was the smallest of them all, even smaller than the average child her age. He shrugged and decided to just get it over with. Taking the girls' hands, he walked over to the two sentries and stated that he had an emergency he needed to discuss with Princess Amelia.

And, as expected, he was denied.

He sighed. He never would have run into this kind of trouble if Lina was at his side.

The thought alone seemed to tug at the already fraying edges of his sanity. "Let me see Amelia, now." he said quietly. "It's an emergency. I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. I don't have any idea what is going on, and I just need to see her." By the time he said the last word, he was already shouting. "Let me see Amelia, NOW."

Both soldiers looked at each other in alarm. "Sir, if you continue to raise your voice, we'll have to apprehend you."

Gourry smiled. It was nothing like the smiles that Yuki or Ana had seen when growing up. This was a smile that meant, quite clearly, that someone was going to get kicked in the face. "Then apprehend me. What will you say to my two daughters, who have lost their mother, my wife, when they lose their father as well?"

He was definitely yelling now. No matter how hard he tried to rein in his emotions, tried to clamp down on that part that was already hurt and bleeding, only to be sliced some more and now wanted revenge, it wouldn't work. He couldn't do it.

"Your wife?" one of the soldiers said, sounding puzzled. He looked from Gourry, to Yuki, who wore an expression similar to Gourry's on her small face, to Ana, who looked scared and whose fingers were tracing magical symbols, and suddenly he blanched. He quickly turned to his co-worker and whispered something. The other soldier went white, nodding so hard it looked as if his neck would snap.

"You're...the Inverse family, right?" the first guard asked warily.

Gourry froze. He blinked, then swallowed, then nodded. "Yes," he agreed.

"We were warned..." the second guard said shakily. "That if any of you, including a tall, huge blond man, a small, red-haired flat-chested woman, and two small girls were to come to the door, we would let you in, no questions asked...it's just..." he shrugged, looking helpless. "You were missing the red-head, so we weren't sure."

Gourry's anger fled him so fast he physically sagged. He lowered his head, nodding slowly. "Okay. I understand. I'm Gourry Gabriev, and they're Ana and Yuki Inverse. Can we please come in now?"

"Ab-absolutely!" they both stammered, jumping out of the way to open the doors. Without another word, the family walked through the doors in silence.

Only Ana turned around to look at the two men. And it was only to stick her tongue out.

X X X

"Gourry-san!" Amelia called, rushing into the waiting area to greet them. "It's been much too long!"

Gourry stood up. They had been led to, and had been waiting in, the nicely furnished area reserved for guests of the royalty. Ana and Yuki, having been there before, amused themselves by trying to guess what had been moved and what was missing. Gourry merely sat on one of the couches, his head in his hands, agonising over his behaviour before, when Amelia walked in, wearing an elegant - but bright pink - dress. The time that had passed didn't show as much on her face - with the exception of a few laugh lines - but the stress of both her duty and their adventures had added quite a few grey streaks to her otherwise immaculate short black hair.

Yuki hesitated, but Ana rushed forward, squealing out, "Auntie Amelia!" and throwing out her arms. Amelia shot a quick look around the room before kneeling down in front of the girl, giving her a tight hug. Over Ana's shoulder, Gourry watched her continuing to look around the room, looking confused.

"Amelia," Gourry said, his voice thick. She looked up at him, then let go of Ana and stood up once more. "Listen, we need to talk..."

Amelia nodded slowly. "Something's happened, hasn't it?" she asked gently. When Gourry nodded, she held up a hand and walked from the room. When she returned, she wasn't alone.

Zelgadis stood beside her, looking, oddly, extremely relaxed. Time hadn't left much of a mark on him at all, due to his magical body, but if one looked closely, it was easy to see that he was older. Something in his stance, and in his eyes, bled the age out.

But it wasn't just that, this time. He looked oddly at peace. With himself, with his surroundings. And for the first time since ever knowing him, Gourry realised that Zelgadis was wearing a plain tunic and pants, not covered head to toe in white. He held himself easily, not at all like the stiff, ready to fight-or-flee youth that he had known.

Zelgadis smiled at Amelia lazily. "What's going on," he wondered, "you have a surprise for me?" Amelia glared at him through a fake smile, her cheeks pink, and Zelgadis looked up, his own cheeks reddening. "Oh," he stammered. "Gourry, Ana, Yuki, and..." his eyes raked the room. "Lina?"

Yuki was scarlet in the face. Her eyes, replicas of Lina's, were focused on Zelgadis. Ana, to break the tension, threw herself at the chimera, only to rub her cheek where she made contact with his legs.

Zelgadis easily scooped Ana up into his arms and had her perched on his shoulder in no time. His eyes, however, were serious, and dark. "Where's Lina?" he asked, his voice tense.

Gourry opened his mouth again, but once more, Amelia stopped him. She turned to Yuki, and said, in a very sombre voice, "Yuki-chan, do you think you and Ana-chan will be okay to explore the palace on your own?"

Yuki wasn't stupid. She was being dismissed and she knew it. But Ana, the ever oblivious, looked so enchanted by the idea of having free reign in the palace stopped her from arguing for her right to stay. "Okay," she said quietly. Ana squealed and slid down Zelgadis's arm, running out the door ahead of her sister. Yuki looked back. "You'll tell me what happens, right?" she asked Gourry. When he nodded, she followed Ana, shouting at her to stop running like an idiot.

When the door closed, Gourry sat back down on the couch in a heap. Zelgadis exchanged a look with Amelia. She sighed and shook her head, and he bit his lip. His eyes narrowed at her, and she glared back.

"Guys," Gourry said wearily, not looking up. "I know you're trying to figure out what to say to me, but instead of wondering, I'll just...tell you what happened."

And he did. He started from the very beginning, from when Lina woke him up to when he woke up and found he was alone in the field. He even backtracked and explained the letter from his brother to them. By the end, he was hunched over, his head cradled in his hands again, and his shoulders were trembling. He barely managed to get the last words out before he just...dissolved.

Amelia sat down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, lightly. Zelgadis sat on his other side, but didn't touch him, knowing that it would be too much all at once. "Gourry-san," Amelia said softly, her eyes full of tears already. "This is terrible..."

Zelgadis slammed his fist on the table in front of them. "Dammit!" he snapped. "We should have killed him when we had the chance!"

Amelia glared at him. "Like that makes a difference now," she snapped back. "We need to figure out how to proceed."

Gourry didn't say anything. By now, he was just relieved that he had managed to get the whole story out without breaking into pieces.

There was a pensive silence, occasionally broken by the sound of Gourry sniffling. Amelia rubbed his back the entire time, and Zelgadis said nothing, his fists clenched, his own eyes shimmering from rage and fear.

"Graudy," Zelgadis said suddenly, looking over at Gourry. "If we go to Graudy, we could get direct answers from the source. Even prove to him that you don't have the sword."

Gourry shook his head. "It's a trap," he croaked out. "I know my brother. Even if he actually does believe I have the sword, he'll still expect me to come."

"Well, so?" Amelia said softly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Walk into the trap. That way, it can be settled once and for all."

"Xellos has Lina under false reasoning," Zelgadis went on, resting his chin on his threaded fingers. "If we expose Xellos in his duplicity, wouldn't that negate the contract?"

Gourry looked up, his eyes watery and his cheeks stained. Instead of looking sad, however, he just looked confused. "Huh?" he murmured, his eyes unfocussed.

Amelia, despite everything, laughed a little. "Zel-chan, you used too many big words," she said gaily, her eyes sparkling.

Gourry made a face. "That's your problem, Zel," he said, as if scolding the chimera. "You can never say things simply."

Zelgadis glowered at the both of them. "Why are you both picking on me today?" he demanded. His eyes, however, belied the anger in his voice. They knew he wasn't truly angry. Irritated, maybe, but not angry.

Gourry wiped his eyes with his shirttail. "Well, you look so relaxed. I bet you can take it. And if you can't, I'm sure Amelia can help." He looked up and smiled at the both of them, then grinned when they both blushed crimson.

"In any case," Amelia said hurriedly, "what Zel-chan means is that if we prove that Xellos-san lied, then the deal they made is no longer valid. He'll have to give Lina-san back!" She looked hopeful, so hopeful, that it was almost contagious.

Zelgadis rubbed his chin in thought. "Call me out if I'm wrong," he said, "but I don't think Xellos would be willing to just release Lina because of that." His eyes glinted, like steel. "He's been trying to get to her for years and years, especially after the whole mess with Gorun Nova. Even at the-"

"Zel-chan!" Amelia snapped. Gourry blinked, looking from Zelgadis to Amelia, and saw that they were both glaring at each other. "Even at the what?" he echoed. "At the what, Zel?"

Amelia glowered at Zelgadis, but he ignored her and turned to Gourry. "Before your wedding, Gourry," he admitted. "Lina never told you?"

Gourry felt a sinking in his stomach. "Tell me what?"

"Zel-chan, he doesn't need to know. Nothing happened, Gourry-san," Amelia said tersely, glaring daggers over Gourry's shoulder.

Zelgadis continued to ignore her, which infuriated her. "Before the wedding, just before Lina was going to walk down with her father, Xellos popped in and greeted her. Alone, one-on-one."

Gourry clenched his fists, and Amelia hissed out an angry sigh.

"From what she told us, he basically told her that she was making the biggest mistake of her life by marrying you and settling down," Zelgadis went on, his eyes boring right into Gourry's. "He told her that it was a complete waste, and that she was 'better off being a free spirit, as free as the wind,' he said."

Gourry was almost afraid to ask. "And what did she say about that?"

Zelgadis smiled faintly. "An answer typical of her: That she was bored with that now, and that it was time to grow up. She loved you, and that was that."

Gourry sighed deeply, wondering why she hadn't told him. Had she been embarrassed?

"Without saying goodbye, he vanished. He never showed up again," Zelgadis concluded. Gourry knew that much was true. He also remembered asking Lina if she had seen Xellos, but she had shook her head and shrugged. "Not until now, Gourry." His eyes blazed with intensity. "Do you know what that means?"

Gourry scratched his cheek. "Not really," he admitted, surprising no one.

"He has always wanted her, Gourry-san." Amelia said this quietly. "As a toy, as an ally, whatever. He tried to sabotage your wedding. He tried to lure her away. And because she rejected him, he waited until he could strike back. And now he has."

Gourry looked down at his hands, his throat thick. THAT was probably why she hadn't told him. So that he wouldn't be living in fear, waiting for Xellos to retaliate.

"But if we can manage to convince Graudy..." Amelia said, chewing on her thumbnail. "If we can manage to get him to see that he's been duped, maybe he'll help us?"

Gourry snorted, rolling his eyes. "Help us? Unlikely," he replied bitterly. "But if we can insult his pride and realise he was played for the fool...maybe."

"Maybe is better than nothing," Zelgadis said.

"Then it's decided!" Amelia declared, raising her arms up and shaking her fists in the air. "To Elmekia! To Gourry-san's brother!"

Zelgadis put a hand on her shoulder. "Aren't you forgetting? Like, about how you're the crown princess?"

Amelia froze, then her arms just dropped to her sides, as if they were made of lead. "Ack," she said in defeat. "I can't go."

"Of course you can!" a new voice declared. "You're not the crowned princess now that I'm here!"

The trio turned to find a tall, strikingly beautiful woman standing in the doorway, one that resembled Amelia in many ways, except that her hair was longer and she was much more endowed. Amelia jumped to her feet and actually jumped over the couch, crashing into the woman with force. "Gracia-onee-san!" she shrieked. "Oh, thank Ciephied you got my letter! I'm so sick of these duties!"

The woman, Gracia, grinned and ruffled Amelia's hair. "There, there, imouto," she chided. "How could anyone ignore such a tearful and pathetic letter?" she put her hand to her mouth and laughed, a throaty, full-bodied laugh that made Zelgadis and Gourry wince. Amelia, however, was beaming with delight.

Gourry leaned over to Zelgadis. "Amelia's just happy now that she can slack off," he said in a whisper. Zelgadis nodded, but he was smiling.

Gracia looked over at the two men, raising an eyebrow. "And these two men are?" Her eyes fell on Zelgadis. "Oh," she said, her grin widening. "I know who YOU are."

"Gracia-san!" Amelia cried, her face red.

Gracia waved a hand at her sister. "Yes yes, I know, I know. So, then, judging by my sister's descriptions, you must be Gourry Gabriev." She leaned in closer. "Is it true what they all say? About how you married the Dramata, Lina Inverse?"

Gourry nodded. "Of course, but I wouldn't call her that when she's in earshot."

Gracia laughed again, louder this time. "Oh, I think I would!" she declared. "Where is that old girl? Hiding? She and I go waaaaay back."

Gourry didn't say anything, but in the back of his mind, he suddenly realised who exactly Gracia might be from Lina's past. When he asked her what she had done before they met, she always referred to a "loud, busty sorceress with a poisonous laugh" named Naga. If what Gracia was saying was true, and they DID go way back, then it was easy to guess that Gracia was Naga, and that, according to Lina, Lina owed her alot of money.

But then it clicked in his mind that he couldn't even ask her. She wasn't here. She wasn't anywhere that they knew about.

The silence filled the room. Gracia frowned. "Why am I being ignored all of a sudden?" she demanded.

"Onee-san," Amelia said uneasily. "Lina-san has been...kidnapped by a Mazoku."

"Oh," Gracia nodded. "I'm sure she'll be fine. But I assume you're going to follow and help?"

Everyone stared at her. It was a completely blasé reaction to how serious the situation was, and it took them all aback. "Er, yes," Zelgadis said carefully.

"And," she pointed out to the hallway. "I assume that someone owns those two girls who are chasing each other with knives?"

Gourry raised his hand. "They're mine," he admitted.

Gracia clapped her hands together, suddenly delighted. "And Lina's I'll bet!" she said breathlessly. "I could definitely see it in the blonde's, but the brunette has her magical aura, too!"

"Yuki is the blonde, Ana the brunette," Gourry explained.

"If you're leaving, I can babysit them!" Gracia declared.

Amelia looked incredibly surprised. "You mean, you don't mind?" she demanded.

Gracia laughed a third time, and this time Amelia winced as well. "Of course not! I could teach them a thing or two!"

Gourry looked at her gratefully. "I actually would really appreciate that," he admitted. "They're too young to take along."

"Done!" Gracia nodded.

"Thank you, Gracia," Zelgadis said. He turned to Gourry, then Amelia, getting to his feet. "We should prepare, get ready to go."

Amelia did a little jig, then nodded happily. "That we should!" She hugged her sister again. "Thank you Gracia-onee-san!"

"Blah!" Gracia answered, shoving Amelia out the door. "Get going. Knowing Lina, she'll blow the world up if she gets bored enough."

Amelia practically danced out the door, singing a wordless song, and Zelgadis sighed and followed. Gourry got up and went to follow him, but Gracia suddenly reached out and stopped him. With a surprise, he saw that she was almost as tall as him.

"Gourry," she said, a serious expression on her face. "You know who I am, right?"

Gourry nodded, opened his mouth to state how, but she shook her head. "Do me a favour," she said. She actually looked a little green. "Don't tell my father!" she pleaded.

"Um...okay," he agreed, confused.

Gracia moved to the side and let him pass, but she had one more thing to say. "Gourry," she called. He stopped and turned around, and saw that she was smiling again. "You're a good match for her. Bring her back so that I can beat her up!"

For some reason, despite the comfort and kindness from his former comrades, this gesture from a stranger he had known only through stories touched him the most. He nodded, swallowing hard. "I intend to," he agreed. "I definitely intend to. No matter what."

On that note, he turned back and followed Amelia and Zelgadis, led by the sound of Amelia's happy singing.


	8. Sacrifice

For the first few minutes, all Lina could think to do was fret and worry.

She sat, knees to her chin, arms around her legs, her eyes shut, trying to block out her thoughts and all that had gone on for the past few hours. Or was it hours? Did time even exist where she was? How long had she been gone, and what day was it? And then she wondered why the hell it mattered what day it was.

Her next thought was, why am I just sitting here doing nothing? It's boring, and it would make sense to look around and see where everything is, especially if I need to pee.

She got up, brushed off her nightgown, and looked around. All there seemed to be was cold, endless rock. She sighed, and her eyes fell on the broken remains of her proud sword. That was just...more depressing.

It took her a few more minutes to look around and see if there was an exit. When she realised there wasn't any, she was at a loss. Yes, it would be easy to MAKE an exit, but Xellos had warned her not to cause trouble. But then, she thought, scratching her cheek, what could he do to stop her? Kill her? Then she would be useless to him, and obviously he was against that, so...

Lina smiled. Yes, it was an excuse to vent her anger and blow shit up, but she had earned it, and she had nothing to lose.

She randomly started knocking on the walls, trying to see if there was any indication as to whether or not more rooms lay behind any of them. When all she got was no echo and a sore hand, she shrugged, cracked her knuckles, and started chanting under her breath.

As the spell built and the power coursed through her, she had to admit it: she hadn't blown up something in a good, long time. She was sort of looking forward to it.

"Dil Brando!" she shouting, flinging her hands in front of her. The bursts of magic crashed into the wall in front of her, and to her joy, blasted the wall apart. She had obviously picked the right wall, because when the dust cleared and the rubble stopped crumbling down, she could see another room through it.

"Lucky!" she declared, doing a little jig. She tossed one last look at her sword, shrugged, and ran out of the dark and dank room...

...into something completely the opposite.

The floors were cold marble, as were the walls (including the one she just blasted open), but both were covered in deep and rich-coloured tapestries, all red and blue. Littering the walls were candles tucked into solid gold holders, and before her was an elaborate staircase, the stairs wide and welcoming. Above her, also covered in candles, was a fantastically gaudy chandelier. It was one of the most intricate and loveliest rooms that Lina had ever seen.

"Oh, that's just cold," she breathed out. "He locked me in there so I wouldn't steal anything, I bet." She walked forward, and instantly she noticed a temperature difference as well. "Just one candelabra would fetch me tons of money!" she whispered, her eyes glittering.

One half of her brain was fixated on her new surroundings. The other, saner, half, the one that controlled her feet, was pointing her towards the stairs. Call it intuition or a hunch, but there was something about the staircase that told Lina that there was more to this place she was trapped in, and that there HAD to be a way out.

Right?

She stopped. Of course, she thought darkly, the Mazoku that dwell here probably all have teleportation powers...

"Augh!" Lina cried, tugging at her bangs. "If only Filia were here! She could counter it!"

Her shout echoed off the walls, leaving her feel somewhat lonely and mostly woebegone. The pretty things had distracted her from reality, and now that reality was back into her eyesight, it made her more and more angry. Like she even had a choice, she thought gloomily. Become a Mazoku or summon the Dark Lord of all Dark Lords to this world. Oooh, such an easy choice.

Of course, there was her third choice, one that she would HAVE to use if she couldn't find her way out of there. It seemed...an incredible waste, but, well, it was HER choice, which left her with NO choice, and THAT just left her feeling confused and with a headache.

Whatever. She had pretty much made her choice. Might as well explore and take in the sights while she could.

She vaguely remembered that Xellos had warned her not to do anything stupid since he knew all that happened, but by now she didn't care. Besides, if it really had mattered he would have done something by now, wouldn't he?

Without a second thought, she started towards the staircase, her eyes taking everything around her in. For a race known to shun pleasure and happiness, the Mazoku certainly seemed to enjoy luxury items. She hadn't seen such elegant fixings in CASTLES.

Mazoku, she decided, were too weird.

When she reached the staircase, she hesitated, her foot hovering over the first step. She could sense that, coming from the direction where the steps led, that there was a huge amount of power hovering in the air. It wasn't akin to Xellos's signature, but it was similar. Sort of like two different smells, but knowing that they both stank, just in different ways.

But, again, nothing she did or said would change her decision now, if it came to it. Might as well burn out the hour and look for an exit while she could, right?

With a cry (just for fun), Lina jumped onto the step with both feet.

And instantly, the step gave way underneath her and opened into a trapdoor.

As she fell, she screamed, of course. All she could see was pitch black, and there was no indication that there was going to be an end to the drop any time soon. Eventually, she ran out of breath, and when she stopped screaming, it was THEN that she slammed into the ground, right onto her back.

She yelped, gasped, then blacked out for a moment, the wind knocked right out of her. Luckily, the fall wasn't enough to seriously hurt her badly (she figured that even gravity didn't work the way it should), but it still hurt enough for a Mazoku to get its jollies if it wanted to.

When she was able to open her eyes again without wincing, she looked up. From above, she could see where she had fallen from, the dim gold light still flickering like a beacon. She sat up, rubbing her head, and realised that she STILL couldn't see where she was, even when she let her eyes adjust to the gloom.

"This is so stupid," she growled, "Lighting!"

She held up her hands, and the requested ball of light flickered and burst to life. She threw it upwards, and its white light lit everything within a few feet around her. She stood up, stretched, and looked around.

Under her feet wasn't marble, but it wasn't rock, either. It felt harder than wood, but not enough to be stone. Sheets of gemstone, maybe? She closed her eyes and concentrated, and sure enough, felt the slow signature of power that was akin to petrified wood. She had no idea how anyone could find so much of it, enough to make it into a sheet to cover the floor, but it impressed her, that was for certain.

Even novices knew that the stone beneath her feet was used to help connect with the divine, which was why it was so damned hard to find. It was powerful, and most clerics hoarded it. Still, even knowing that, Lina didn't quite understand why the hell a Mazoku stronghold would want to use a pebble of the stuff, let alone use it to make an entire floor. Why would they want to contact the divine, anyway?

She frowned, chewing her lip in thought. Maybe they felt that the Lord of Nightmares was divine, and that this was a way of getting its attention?

She walked forward, the ball of light following her steps overhead as she did so. She kept her eyes to the ground, fascinated by the length of the floor and the shimmer it gave off in the dim light. Soon, the hole she fell through was long behind her, and she was surrounded by walls of chiseled and jagged stone.

She concentrated on the light, and it burst out brighter. It was harder to control that way, but she needed the extra light. Sure enough, in the increased glow, the extent of the chamber was revealed beneath her feet, and she sighed, deeply, physically sagging a bit.

Deep underneath the glass that housed the petrified wood beneath her feet, an imperfect but still powerful symbol was carved into the gemstone. It was a symbol made up of several smaller ones, and each small symbol was for control as well as power.

The main and centre symbol was, of course, a pentacle. Within each space between each point were other symbols, and she noticed several were intended for binding and control in addition to power increase. She snorted. Whoever had an eye on her still wished she would go with Option Number Two, apparently.

It was rather ingenious, if Lina actually thought about it. With the amount of magic they had used here, the bindings might actually have some sway. But if what the Clare Bible had told her was true, and if the Lord of Nightmares wasn't only the lord of the Mazoku, but the lord of all, wouldn't it have control over ALL symbols?

It was tricky, and it was something she didn't want to test.

She let the spell die down and wondered how much time she had left. Probably not alot.

This wasn't fair.

There was so much that she had wanted to do. People were always trying to back her into a corner throughout her life, and each time she had always been able to fight her way out. Not this time, she thought grimly. There's no way out, but the choice will still be mine. I'm not going to let anyone take that away from me, at least.

She sat down in the middle of the pentacle, her eyes unfocussed, trying to think of how exactly she could work out her plan without making a huge mistake of it. After all, there would be no way to correct it.

The ward might help, she thought idly. It would help with her focus, surely. It would help with her aim, at least. There would be that.

"This is a nice place to be, isn't it, Lina-san?" a voice echoed.

Lina sighed, feeling her insides clench up. "An hour's up already?" she called out.

The sound of rushing air again, and Xellos stood in front of her, alone.

"I would have thought that your master would like to be here for this," she said, rising to her feet slowly. She felt her knees tremble, and she willed them to stop. Gods, she couldn't show fear now, she just couldn't, even if she was insane for doing this.

It was just so...finite, her common sense argued. Never had there been such a final decision. There was always a chance that there would be an 'after', a 'later'.

But not this time.

Xellos smiled brightly. "She trusts me to handle things on my own," he said cheerfully.

Lina crossed her arms over her chest. "Or you convinced her not to share," she said.

"More to the point, I suppose," he agreed without as much as a flinch. "So have you made your choice, Lina-san?"

Lina swallowed, her heart racing. Her knees still shook, and she decided that there was just no way to hide it, anyways, so she gave up. "Yeah," she said, her voice hoarse.

This was it, she thought grimly.

Xellos opened his eyes, and the air filled with the miasma of his bloodlust. "And will we need this ward?" he asked.

Lina nodded. "Yes," she said.

Xellos's lips twitched, the only indication that he gave that he was disappointed in her decision. "Ah, I suppose this world has had a good run," he said in a singing tone of voice, although the bloodlust in the air belied the words. "It'll be hard to say goodbye."

"Oh, shut up," Lina snapped. "I have to concentrate, and it'll take me longer since I don't have the talismans." She slowly walked back to the middle of the pentacle, spreading her arms and holding out her hands. They shook, badly, but her eyes never left his, and she knew they held every grain of anger in their gaze, so it didn't matter.

"Any last words?" Xellos quipped.

"Sure," Lina said casually, taking the time to toss her hair over her shoulder. "No matter what, Xellos," she said with a smile, "you may think you've won, but somehow, you'll lose."

Xellos wagged a finger at her, his eyes sparking. "Very cryptic, Lina-san, but let's not get sidetracked. Begin."

Lina exhaled, closed her eyes, and concentrated. Hard. She needed to build up as much power as she could BEFORE she finished, otherwise, it wouldn't work the way she needed it to.

She chanted the words. Instantly, the ward beneath her feet lit up, blazing with golden light. She cupped her hands, and from each palm, an imperfect sphere of golden light sparked to life. With each word, she felt the strain of her will, the drain of her energy, but she kept going, nearing the end, until...

She stopped two lines short. And opened her eyes.

She was bathed in the golden light from the unfinished Giga Slave. The ward was ablaze with it, and the force of the spell blew her hair back and dried her eyes that she knew were full. She held the spheres of light with as much control as she could muster, and, without a word, she met Xellos's eyes, and began to bring her hands up towards herself.

Xellos blinked, the permanent smile wavering. "Lina-san," he said, his voice thick with threat, "finish it. Don't put off the inevitable."

It was hard. She could feel the cold sweat dripping from her forehead, feel the strength leaving her. It was hard to keep the spell partially complete, hard to keep it reined in without the Chaos Words to control it. But she could do it. She could and she would. Everything depended on it. Each second was like an eternity, but with each second, her hands got closer, and soon, she smiled, her eyes blazing so bright, even in the golden shine.

The smile was gone from Xellos's face now. She could tell he wasn't sure what to do. If he stepped forward to stop her, the magical field surrounding her body would repel him. If he tried to attack her, it would probably be too late to make a difference, anyways, and it still wouldn't get him what he wanted.

Oh, she had him where she wanted him.

Without a word, she shut her eyes and gritted her teeth. Without a sound, she held her hands up to her chest. And without hesitation, she shut the spell down in her mind, and let it all go.

The already activated globes of Chaos energy that had sprung to life now, at the sudden release of her control, instead of fading, burst forward from her hands, and without mercy, crashed into her body without fail. Though the spell wasn't at the height of its power, it was still enough to burn through her, and she felt the twin stabs of pain, heard herself gasp, and felt herself drop. After that, she felt numb, and everything was darkening.

Before her closed eyes, she saw the faces of her daughters.

And Gourry. Gourry was the last she saw.

 _Gourry..._

And then it was over, and everything that was faded into nothing.


	9. Conviction

When Graudy peered into the dimly lit room that his father was housed it, it was with some regret and disgust to discover that his sire still lived. The air stank of disease and death loomed in every dark corner. With each moment that passed by without any word from either Xellos or his brother, Graudy sometimes wished that his father would just die so that he wouldn't have to waste any more thoughts on him.

"Graudy."

The voice was brittle, like paper that was close to dust, and thick with bile. The sound of his name being called by such a voice sent a shudder of revulsion through him, but still he obeyed. Even after all of this time and all of these years, through fights and suffering, still he heeded his father's voice. Taking a breath, he edged into the room slowly, trying not to breath in the air around his father.

Once he reached the bedside, he knelt down and forced himself to look at the man who had made his life hell for so many years, despite him being the favourite. His skin was grey with his sickness, and his skin was stretched so tight that his features weren't even his anymore. It scared Graudy, if he was to admit it, but he remembered that his father had been a cruel man, and this was a fitting end for such a bastard.

"The sword," his father rasped out, his eyes flashing with unspent rage. Those eyes were the only feature that showed any life anymore, and, much to Graudy's chagrin, they still housed quite a bit of it.

Graudy swallowed a sigh and grit his teeth. "I don't have it yet," he snapped. "I'm still waiting for Gourry to bring it to me."

His father's hand reached out and grabbed Graudy's arm before he could move away. The grip was tight, and his fingers felt like claws. "Get it soon," he snarled, his face twisting into a crumple of rage and desperation.

Graudy ruthlessly pried his father's fingers away. "I know it," he snapped. Abruptly, he got to his feet and stalked out of the room. Once he reached the hallway, he rubbed his arm.

If Father still has a grip like that, he'll be around for a while, still, he thought sourly. He sighed again, then stormed down the hallway and out of the hospital.

X X X

The sight of his home country on the horizon made Gourry feel sick. But there it was, in its complete and industrialized glory. It was enough to make him feel like retching. Floods of horrible memories of his last days there assaulted him without any real break, and with each step he found himself wishing that he was anyone but himself, just so that he could claim that he belonged to any other country but THAT.

Both Zelgadis and Amelia were frowning. "Do you think we'll have a problem with the border check?" Zelgadis asked, for the first time looking like he used to: self-conscious and edgy. Amelia placed a hand on his arm lightly, and he visibly relaxed.

Gourry took the question seriously. "Yes," he said honestly. "Without a doubt, we'll have trouble." Without a word, he pointed out, and from this the couple could see the problem.

Stretched along the borders of the country were rows and rows of tents.

"Impromptu soldiers barracks," Amelia said softly, her eyes narrowed. "And poor, from the looks of it."

"Are they expecting a war to break out?" Zelgadis wondered.

Gourry shook his head. "When I left, it had always been like this. The only difference is that there are twice as many tents as there used to be."

Amelia chewed her lip. "This is really bad, Gourry-san," she said. "I knew that Elmekia was a military-run country, but I had no idea that the situation had become this bad."

"What do you mean?" Gourry blinked.

Amelia sighed. Without realising it, she reached up and toyed with a streak of grey hair. "Everyone within the area has always known that, for many, many years, Elmekia has been monarched by kings who are..." she reddened, "...well, slightly insane."

Gourry nodded. "Of course. Why do you think I left?" His eyes held a hard light to them.

"My point is that I'm glad I made the trip," she answered, her frown increasing. "This confirms the rumours that our spies have been sending us. The king is paranoid that there is going to be a war, and from the looks of it, he's right."

Zelgadis glowered at the tents. "More political bloodshed."

"However," Amelia said, surprising Gourry, "we're not here for politics." She looked over at Gourry and smiled lightly, her eyes sad. "We're here to get Lina-san back. That is what we need to focus on."

Gourry felt his throat tighten a bit. He nodded.

"So, then, what do we do?" Zelgadis shrugged, looking impatient. "If we're going to have trouble getting in, then how to we continue?"

Gourry cracked his neck. "We go in, and we ask to see Graudy. When they as who we are, we tell them the truth. We don't have much of a choice. We need to get in, we need to convince Graudy, and we need to get Lina back."

When his voice shook, he still went on. "Even if we don't convince Graudy with words, we'll use violence. I don't care. We're..." his throat closed up and he sighed, lowering his head.

Zelgadis walked over and placed a hand on Gourry's shoulder. "We know, Gourry. We will."

Amelia jumped into a pose. "We'll get Lina-san back through anything and everything! Don't you worry!"

Despite the clumsy attempts, it made him feel ten times better. He looked up and smiled. "Thank you," he said quietly.

X X X

At the border check, they were stopped by three huge soldiers.

"Who are you?" the middle one asked, with no preamble.

Gourry stood up straighter. "I'm an Elmekian, just like you are. And they are my guests.

Amelia exchanged a pale look with Zelgadis, who shrugged.

"Anyone and everyone have been saying that nowadays," the guard retorted. "You need proof."

Gourry stared at him. "Proof? I haven't been here in almost 20 years, and when I left, no one handed out re-entry forms."

"Gourry-san," Amelia whispered uneasily, shifting from foot to foot.

The guard smiled meanly. "Much has changed in 20 years. What makes you think you're even welcome now? How do I even know that the reason why you left was lawful? You could have left after committing a crime to escape the charges."

Gourry smiled back in the same way. "Back then, if anyone committed a crime worthy of escaping, they would still be welcome. Considered a hero, even."

"Gourry!" Zelgadis hissed.

The guard stepped closer to Gourry. "You say you're an Elmekian, but you don't sound like you have any love for our country. If you hate it here so much, why are you even back?"

"I need to see my brother," Gourry answered. He clenched his fists, feeling his hands trembling. This was all wasted time, time he needed, time he didn't have...

"And yet you don't have any proof, and you show up with some woman and..." the guard peered at Zelgadis closely, who looked as if he wanted to bolt right then and there. "Some freak of nature!"

Gourry lost it. He lunged forward and grabbed the guard by the throat. He didn't get far, for the other two guards pointed their swords at him, and both Zelgadis and Amelia were protesting, but he wouldn't let go until he had his say.

"Listen to me," Gourry growled. "I may not be here for good reasons, but I'm here for mandatory reasons. I could kill you and your friends without so much as a blink of an eye and manage to get into the country before you fall to the ground, but I won't. I'll follow the rules. I'll wait until you have my brother come here. But I am not leaving until you at least do that for me. And if you think I'm a bastard now, oh," he grinned, the expression sending a chill through his friends. "You won't like it when I'm serious."

He let go and shoved the guard back. The other two kept their swords trained on him while the leader caught his breath. When he had, he looked at Gourry, his face visibly paler now.

"Who is your brother?" he asked.

"Graudy Gabriev," Gourry answered.

All three guards jumped, then the other two went just as pale as their leader. "That explains it, then," the leader sighed, his eyes lit with fear. He shot a look to his coworkers, and they both nodded. "You have passage," the leader grunted. "But if you're caught doing anything criminal, you're mine, personally."

Gourry smiled again. "You won't find it easy," he replied. He started forward, and all three guards moved to the side to let him through. Zelgadis followed, baring his teeth at the head guard, and Amelia did the same, briefly bowing her head in gratitude.

X X X

"Nothing changes," Gourry grated out as they walked. His anger seemed to propel him forward, so fast that even Zelgadis had trouble keeping up with him. "Everyone is still the same: completely paranoid and utterly heartless."

"Gourry-san, we still have time," Amelia said breathlessly. "We still have plenty of time to convince Graudy."

Gourry said nothing. Deep inside, in his gut, he wasn't so sure. Despite everything, it felt as if everything was all for nothing, that everything was already decided and that he was chasing after nothing. The argument with the guard seemed to bring all of the urgency he had been smothering during their travels to the surface again, and he was actually surprised that he hadn't lost control sooner.

The country was bare, dirt roads and empty plains. Whatever had grown there had been hacked down and dragged away for supplies, as well as to make room for the tent city. As they neared closer to town, they saw that the people weren't faring much better, and that since all of the money and supplies were going to the army, there wasn't much left over for the citizens.

As they moved closer, Gourry felt as if he was walking back in time. Although this wasn't the exact region he had lived in as a boy, it was so hauntingly similar that he felt all of his fears and angers creeping up on him again.

"Gourry," Zelgadis managed to sprint past him and cut him off. "Gourry!" he reached forward and grabbed onto the blond man's shoulders, stopping him. Gourry started to push against him, but then saw the seriousness in Zelgadis's eyes and stopped.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Zelgadis asked gently. "All you know is that Graudy is here. You don't know where he IS."

Amelia finally caught up to them, gasping and leaning over, clutching a stitch at her side. "You're both cruel!" she accused. "Next time, I'm using Ray Wing and then YOU can eat MY dust!"

Gourry blinked. "How fast was I going?"

Zelgadis looked to the side. "You left us both in the dust."

Gourry reddened, sagging a little. "Guys, I'm sorry. I just...I need...I just need..." he looked so panicked, so lost, that both Amelia and Zelgadis looked a little embarrassed at trying to tease him.

Amelia suddenly put a fist to one palm. "I bet that guard knows where he is," she said. "We could go back and ask him!"

Zelgadis let go of Gourry's shoulders gently and shook his head. "Going back there is a very bad idea," he said. "Gourry, do you know where Graudy's response was sent from?"

Gourry paused and rubbed his chin, but after a few moments, he shook his head. "I know he's in the army," he said. "He always talked about joining the army, and if you want to succeed here, you HAVE to be in the army."

"Do you think he's back in the tent city?" Amelia wondered.

Gourry shook his head. "He's too proud for that. He would more than likely be in one of the army bases stationed close to the Palace."

Zelgadis nodded to Amelia. Together, they both went to either side of Gourry and grabbed an arm. "Um, guys?" Gourry said nervously. "You know, I still can't deal with that, even after all of these years..."

They ignored him, summoned the spell, and soon they were speeding towards the main city of Elmekia, Gourry yelling the whole time.

X X X

When they finally reached the entrance to the army base, all Gourry had to do was say his name and they were let in. The moment those doors opened, it was like a red fog settled over his brain. Half of him was so angry with Graudy that he wanted to beat his brother to a bloody pulp. The other half was focussing on the fact that finally the two would settle this animosity after so many years.

Without a second thought, he stormed into the room that he was led to and rushed right in. There, sitting on a shabby chair with his head dipped back in a doze, was Graudy. When Gourry slammed open the door, he started awake and grabbed his sword.

Gourry was already way ahead of him. He drew his sword and lunged forward, ignoring Amelia's shriek of protest. Graudy managed to parry the thrust, but barely, and by that time, Gourry had already pulled back and started forward again.

It was the sight of his brother, so calm and so uncaring, in his little hole in the midst of this hell, while his wife, the love of his life, was Ciephied-knew-where, that had set him off and made him forget common sense. He knew that he was supposed to be talking, trying to convince Graudy to summon Xellos and dissolve the contract, but all he could think about was Lina being held by Xellos, and he couldn't get past it.

Zelgadis grabbed his own sword and darted forward. With a shout and deft manoeuvring, he managed to not only get between the brothers, but also drive Gourry back towards the other side of the room. Gourry fought against him without thinking, and only when Zelgadis shouted his name was he able to snap out of it.

Graudy stood there, shaking from head to foot. His eyes were glued to the sword in Gourry's hands. "That's not the Sword of Light," he murmured.

Gourry lost it. "Of course it isn't!" he shouted. "I wasn't lying when I told you I didn't have it!" He started forward again, but Zelgadis stopped him. Amelia kept her distance, but didn't back away, either.

Graudy paled. "So where the hell is it then?" he demanded.

Gourry gritted his teeth, his anger choking his words off. Zelgadis looked over and answered for him. "I don't know if you heard," he began calmly, "but about 15 years ago, one of the Dark Lords of another world was summoned to this world."

"The Sword of Light didn't belong to this world," Amelia explained. "It never did. Gourry used it to send the Dark Lord back. And when it was over, the sword went back to the world that it belonged to."

"So I _couldn't_ give it back to you, you stupid bastard!" Gourry grated out. "You had no right! You had no right to take Lina away from me!"

Graudy appeared to have collected some of his cool during the explanation. "Either way, you deserved it, Gourry," he sneered. "You stole it from us, and you ran away, only to lose it. If anything, I was completely in the right to have done what I did, and if anything, I should have done it sooner!"

"You...you!" Gourry broke free from Zelgadis, lunged forward again, and brought down his sword towards his brother. Graudy parried it again, but Gourry kept coming at him, swing after swing. Gourry never seemed to tire, and Graudy was finding it very hard to keep up with him.

Two things happened. The first thing was that there was a sudden blast of light coming from Amelia. The second was that, all of a sudden, out of no where, Gourry couldn't move. He froze in mid-swordthrust, gasping for air. Graudy staggered back hurriedly.

Zelgadis lowered his hand. "Shadow Snap," he explained. Gourry's eyes went to his feet, and sure enough, a small dagger was buried in the floor behind him right into his shadow, lit by Amelia's spell. "We need to talk to him, Gourry," Zelgadis went on. "We can't kill him."

But then Zelgadis's eyes went icy, and he smiled slowly, the smile sinister. "Yet."

"We'll set you free once you've calmed down, Gourry-san," Amelia said carefully. "Just close your eyes when you're ready."

Gourry took in a few breaths, slowly, trying to clear the red haze of rage that clouded his thoughts. When he felt he could control himself, he shut his eyes, and instantly he could move again. He stumbled, then sheathed his sword and walked away from Graudy, over to Zelgadis and Amelia.

Graudy himself was just standing there, holding his sword, trembling.

"Why did you contact me now, Graudy?" Gourry asked softly, his eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Graudy opened his mouth, ready to lie, but instead he spoke the truth. "Father is dying."

Gourry smiled. It shocked his comrades, because it was a smile of cruel joy. "Good. But what does this have to do with the sword?"

"He wanted to hold it as he died." Graudy admitted. "I figured that the man fathered us. He had the right."

"He has no rights. Not after how he treated me," Gourry answered roughly.

"You were too soft, little brother," Graudy snarled. "He was trying to make you into a man."

"Enough," Gourry snapped. "You've been lied to. I don't have the sword. Bring Lina back. NOW."

Graudy sighed. "It's not that simple," he admitted. "The guy never gave me a way to contact him."

"Knowing Xellos, he's close by," Zelgadis said tonelessly, looking disgusted.

"To get a free meal," Amelia agreed.

"Wait, you know him?" Graudy said, surprised. "I knew that he had some history with Gourry and Lina, but you two know him as well?"

"He was somewhat of an ally at times," Zelgadis admitted.

Gourry shook his head, looking down at the floor. "And other times, a real son of a bitch."

"Now do you understand, Graudy?" Amelia said softly, trying to be diplomatic, even if no one else was. "Xellos-san has been using you all of this time to meet his own agendas. He knew from the start that Gourry-san didn't have the sword. He used you."

Graudy opened his mouth, closed it, onto to do it a few more times without a sound. "Where's Lina?" Gourry asked slowly, his eyes blazing.

Graudy blanched. "He never told me where he was taking her. All I said was to keep her away from me."

Zelgadis looked at Amelia with a start. Her eyes widened. "Wolf Pack Island," they said as one.

Gourry blinked. "Um...where?" he said, sounding more like himself.

"Nevermind, we have to go!" Zelgadis snapped, grabbing Gourry's arm, just as Amelia followed suit. Graudy let out a protest, but just as they were about to leave, a sudden flash of light and the sound of displaced air interrupted them. Standing in the doorway, looking grim, was Xellos.

It was a good thing that he was being held, because it took every bit of strength that they had to restrain Gourry. "Xellos!" he shouted.

Xellos held out his staff, his eyes opening. "Your anger is too late, Gourry-san," he said, sounding tired, his eyes dim.

He froze, feeling the blood drain from his face in one sweep. Amelia inhaled sharply, and Zelgadis snapped out, "What are you talking about?"

"Well," Xellos straightened up, lowering his arm. "The situation was simple. I gave Lina-san a few choices as to how she could spend her time in captivity. I even gave her time to think about it. Instead of honouring my gracious hospitality, not only did she destroy part of my home and refuse my choices, but, well..." he drew it out as long as he could, and from the look in his eyes, he was enjoying every single second of it. "She decided that death was more to her liking."

Amelia uttered a strangled cried, and Zelgadis let go of Gourry and started forward. "You killed her?" he demanded.

Xellos shook his head. "She killed herself."

Gourry's legs gave out. Everything went white, and he couldn't hear, couldn't breathe. He collapsed forward onto the ground, lowered his head, and slammed both fists onto the floor as hard as he could, before breaking down and dissolving.

Zelgadis reached out towards Xellos, a blast of magic coming to life, but Xellos phased out before he could. Soon, they heard his voice. "Sorry that the bargain was left one-sided, Graudy."

After that, there was only the sound of Gourry's sobs, accompanied by Amelia's strangled tears and Zelgadis's sharp cursing.

In his mind, Gourry knew, despite Xellos's history of duplicity, that he was telling the truth. And he wished, desperately, with every fibre of his being, that there was some way to prove it was a lie. And even when he realised that there was no way to do that, his thoughts went elsewhere.

I wish it had been me. I wish it had been ME. I wish that it was ME instead of her...

He thought that these thoughts were falling to deaf ears, that they were pointless, silly pleas, the pleas of a man who has lost everything in one fatal swoop, who knew that there was no going back, who knew that, despite everything else, despite evidence to the contrary, there was no reason for him to be alive if he was living without her.

But someone heard him.

And that someone went into action.


	10. Awakening

Lina could feel herself falling.

It wasn't a fast falling, like falling from a high distance. It was more like a slow falling, a gradual falling, one that allows the person caught in it and truly feel the experience and think about it.

The air was warm as it brushed past her face. Her hands were tucked under her chin, her arms crossed in front of herself. She had her eyes closed. She was too afraid to look, to see where she was.

The air was actually soothing. It eased some of the twinges in her bones, ones that had started appearing after she gave birth to Ana.

She could hear the sound of the breeze, and something that sounded vaguely like wind chimes.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

Her gaze met darkness, which was not what she had expected. She had expected something else, something more…monumental.

Something about it, though, seemed familiar.

With a jolt, she realised why. Her eyes widened, and she heard herself gasp, a sound that broke the silence of her surroundings.

So many years ago, she had stood here, with tears in her eyes and pain in her heart. With no other way to save the one she loved, she resolved to forgo saving herself…

Just as she had a few moments ago…or was it only a few moments ago? It felt as if she had been falling forever, with no goal, no end, and no sound.

Her feet found ground, and she stood, in that cold, horrible place. Ironic that she found herself back where it all began, when it was all over now.

She knew that everything around her was illogical. When she had destroyed Phibrizzo, this place had gone with him. The cold ice, the harsh lighting, the crumbling rock and stone, all of it had vanished with him.

And yet, here she was. And yet, no matter how scared she felt, no matter how tense she was, she still could not hear or feel her heart beating.

Was this how she was going to spend her afterlife? Living in memories? Memories she hated, memories that she longed to bury, because the pain was too much?

She stood there, unsure of what to do. The chamber was empty, foreboding, and she longed to leave it, but she was afraid that if she moved out of it, she would have to move on, and then, it would be all over.

"Lina."

She jumped, the voice scaring the daylights out of her. She turned around, trying to locate the source of the voice, but it seemed to have come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

"Who are you?" she whispered. She couldn't help it. She felt like she was in a graveyard.

As soon as the last word left her lips, her surroundings warped and changed. She cried out, trying to get away, but she found that no matter how far she stepped back, she was caught in the upheaval no matter what.

And then she found herself in another familiar place. One that made her feel so much younger, and, despite herself, she felt her eyes sting.

In the distance, a dark, looking circle of darkness hovered. It was endless-looking, and the darkness it held was vast and threatening. All around her, above and below, was gold. The golden-yellow light was all she could see, beyond the dark pool of emptiness in the distance.

It was where she had woken up in Gourry's arms.

So then this was how it would end, she thought. She was going back to Chaos after all. Despite all of her attempts, despite the fact that she hadn't completed the spell, and thus shouldn't have attracted the Lord of Nightmares' attention, she was here now, regardless. It didn't seem fair.

There was nothing under her feet, so she couldn't walk, but instead she floated. She sighed, deciding that she might as well get it all over with.

She started to swim forward, but something repelled her. She stopped, unsure of what would happen if she persisted. Them that voice said her name again, and she swallowed.

A shimmer of light, brighter and purer than the light surrounding her, flickered to life before her. She felt the urge to escape, but something held her in place.

Slowly, the light took the form of a woman, tall, golden, and perfect in every way. That was how Lina could tell that there was nothing natural about her, because she was so flawless, so immaculate. And yet, at the same time, she wondered if the woman before her was the most natural thing in the world.

It confused the hell out of her.

"Lina," the woman said. The voice was a mesh of two: one feminine and beautiful, the other masculine and deep. "You brought yourself to my attention again."

Despite herself, Lina protested. "I didn't even finish the spell!" she exclaimed. "I didn't even say the Chaos Words, didn't even pledge myself. How could you have caught sight of me?"

The woman, the Lord of Nightmares, smiled slowly. The gesture was so simple, and yet it was breathtaking. "Do you really think that you have to finish the spell to get my attention? The moment you invoked my name, you had my ear."

Lina opened her mouth to protest, but instead, she said, "I'm sorry."

The Lord of Nightmares blinked slowly. "Why?"

Lina shifted uneasily. "Because you have better things to do?"

"You alone are the only one who has had enough intelligence to piece together obscure information and use my power," the Lord of Nightmares responded calmly. "No one else has ever called on me before. It's…interesting."

Lina gaped at her. "Interesting," she echoed. If she didn't know any better, she would swear that the Lord of Nightmares, the mother of all, the lord of dreams, was actually amused!

"Lina," the Lord of Nightmares said again, her voice suddenly deep with seriousness. "Why did you use my magic to kill yourself?"

She sighed. "Because," she growled, her frustration rising up in her chest again. "Because Xellos, the stupid bastard, left me no choice! I had to do it. Any other way would have been worse than death." She paused, then looked up, right into the eyes of the mother of all. Her own eyes were dark. "I know I have to pay," she said quietly. "I know I have to fix the balance. So even though it didn't exactly go as plan, I still accept the responsibility." She swallowed, hard. "I know I have to go back to the Void with you."

There was a silence, one that seemed to emphasize the fact that there was no beating in Lina's chest, that there was no blood rushing through her veins. The silence was maddening, and during it, the lord of Nightmares simply stared at Lina, her face a mask void of any emotion.

Lina couldn't help it. She started to tremble. It was too much, everything that had gone on. She was starting to feel it all, and even though she wasn't alive, she still felt the stress from it all as if she were. And under the gaze of the Lord of Nightmares, it was harder to calm down.

"Lina," the Lord of Nightmares finally said, "do you want to return to the Sea of Chaos with me?"

"No," Lina burst out. Her voice broke. "No, I don't. The last thing I want is to go with you. I just want to stay on my world, fight my own battles, grow old, and die. But I'm not an idiot," she went on, her voice choked. Her eyes burned, and soon the tears streaked down her cheeks, but she didn't brush them away. "I know that every spell has a price, every magic has a repercussion."

The Lord of Nightmares nodded slowly. "But do you want to come with me?" she repeated.

Lina lowered her head. "No," she murmured. "No, no, no." She squeezed her eyes shut, tight. She knew that what she was saying was completely asinine, but she couldn't lie.

Suddenly, she felt a warm touch on the top of her head. She opened her eyes, the touch sending warmth throughout her body, from her head to her toes.

"Then go home," the soft voice said lightly. "Go home, live your life, and grow old."

Lina looked up, her movements jerky. "What are you saying?" she demanded. "The balance is still off! I still have to pay!"

The Lord of Nightmares lowered her hand, smiling again. "Lina," she chided lightly, "I don't do things because I want some sort of retribution. I do it because I want to."

Lina's mind suddenly focused on something said by Valgaav, many years ago, about how humans and Mazoku, Ryuzoku and beastmen, were all pawns in a game for the Gods to entertain them. She wondered now if Valgaav was actually on to something, and it chilled her a little.

"So then, what Xellos was saying…?" Lina trailed off, anger flaring up from the pit of her stomach.

"Ah, yes, Xellos," the Lord of Nightmares said lightly. "I hope you can find some way to punish him for this."

Lina almost made a sarcastic reply, but the meaning of the words sunk in and stopped her. "I'm going back?" she stammered.

"I don't need you here," the smile on the Lord of Nightmares' face was gentle.

Lina almost collapsed, and would have, if the force that held her in check had been lifted. "Thank you," she whispered, her eyes overflowing. "Thank you, thank you," she kept saying it, over and over, until the Lord of Nightmares lifted up a hand to stop her.

"I just have one command," the Lord of Nightmares said, and her voice bore no opening for negotiation. Lina nodded slowly. "If you use my power, do not use it this way again."

Lina almost asked why it would matter if she did or not, but the look in the Lord's eyes stopped her. She once again nodded slowly.

"One more thing," the Lord of Nightmares continued. "When you return to your man, Gourry, tell him this for me: I don't trade one life for another, no matter how selfless the request."

Lina eyes widened, and her throat suddenly felt so sore that she almost burst into sobs right then and there, but she managed to calm herself. Barely. "I will," she agreed, "amidst punching."

The Lord of Nightmares smiled again, the smile wide and unrestrained. Without another word, she reached a hand forward, and Lina shut her eyes, wincing a bit. But when the hand touched her forehead, all she could feel was warmth.

X X X

Slowly, Lina opened her eyes. She felt cold and hot all at once, and she felt horribly weak. She shut her eyes again tightly, groaning and reaching up to her chest. All she could feel was pain, and her hands came back wet and warm with blood.

How long had she been lying there?

Weakly, she murmured the chant to a Recovery spell, hoping that she had enough time to do so. She knew her injuries were a lot better than they had been (from the Lord of Nightmares' intervention, more than likely), so the wounds were much shallower than they were when she had inflicted them, but they still hurt.

When she felt the wounds scar over with tender skin, she dropped her hands to her sides and just breathed, feeling so tired and so weak that all she wanted to do was sleep.

She knew that she was still on Wolf Pack Island: the stale air on her skin was proof of that. She also wondered how much time had passed, and how long she had before Xellos found her.

Then she had another thought: What kind of asshole just leaves someone dead on the floor?

She answered her own question with a smile to herself: a Mazoku.

Slowly, she rolled to her side, then to her front, before pushing herself up. She sat there, her head down, breathing deeply. She pressed a hand to her chest and just took a minute, feeling her heart beat against her palm.

All too soon, she heard the sound of displaced air, and felt Xellos's presence behind her. The moment she did, she started chanting, fast-paced, under her breath. She wasn't sure if she could do it, but she would try.

Xellos reached down and grabbed her by the arm, jolting her and almost blowing her concentration. When she looked up, it was right into his eyes, which were bright with disbelief and hate. He didn't say a word, and he didn't have to. They both knew what was coming, and for some reason, he didn't even put up a fight.

The Ragna Blade burst from her hands and surged forward at the command from her mind. Xellos took it, right through his chest, and the only sound he uttered was a grunt.

"Your plans backfired, Xellos," Lina said softly, watching his eyes grow dim. She felt a tinge of regret. "I know you thought I was wasting my life, but I wasn't. I know that you thought I could be something powerful at your side, but that's not what I wanted."

Xellos laughed weakly, grabbing onto both of her arms tightly. "You're…you're a favourite of her now, are you?" he rasped out.

"You lied to me," Lina answered, not really answering the question. "And why aren't you fighting back?"

"I know…when I've been beat…" Xellos answered. For the first time, she could see the age in his eyes, the strain, and she wondered, truly wondered, if he had wanted an end to HIS life instead of hers, all of this time. "I also know…when I've overstepped the boundaries."

Lina let the spell go, and Xellos collapsed on his knees, taking her with him. Xellos stared right into her eyes, and she found she couldn't look away.

"I just…" Xellos said finally. "Your growing old is such a waste," he spat, his eyes glinting with anger.

Lina smiled. "Not if I live it to the fullest."

Xellos smiled, shutting his eyes. "Humans," he murmured, his corporal body already fading. "We'll never understand them."

And before she could reply, or say something else, like a goodbye, he vanished from her sight. It was the most anticlimactic ending of a life that she had ever experienced.

Lina knelt there, her hands out, feeling a sinking in the pit of her stomach. She felt sadness, for Xellos had been there for them in times of need, even if he wasn't amused about it. And even though she wasn't positive that he was truly gone, it certainly felt that way. She was surprised by how much it hurt.

She lowered her arms, then her head. She sighed deeply, feeling relief as well as sadness. And then, when she was able to breathe without difficulty, she stood up shakily, chanted a Levitation spell, and rose up from the chamber that had been her doom.

X X X

When she reached the glittering chamber, she floated herself onto the staircase. Without hesitation, she chanted again, and with a Damu Bras, she blasted the wall before her into rubble.

Wet, fresh air met her face, and she jumped down from the staircase and onto plain, regular sand. She was outside now, on the actual island part of Wolf Pack Island, and the salty wet air hitting her skin felt good.

She looked behind her, feeling a sudden jolt of fear. What if Zelas came after her and stopped her from leaving? But then, she thought, Zelas probably had enough problems, and was more than likely happy to see her go.

Lina walked away from the looming building that had imprisoned her, and when she got further away, she looked back and saw that the entire structure looked like a huge chunk of rough rock.

With a shrug, she turned and walked away. She reached the edge of the island and dipped her feet into the cold water. She looked out before her, seeing, in the far distance, the continent where she belonged.

She concentrated, and although she was already feeling strained and tired, and though her hair showed evidence of white, not from age but from magical strain, she figured she could at least managed one more Ray Wing and get to the nearest town, and from there, home.

Lina chanted softly, and the spell took hold. Not once did she look back.

X X X

When her feet touched the shore on the other side, she knew she had blown it. She had actually figured it out halfway through the trip over the water. When she touched her hair and looked, she saw that most of it was white now.

Panting, she shook her head and staggered forward, her eyes fixed on a house on the edge of the beach. Her steps were disjointed, as if she had had too much to drink, and it was hard to keep her vision focused, but she kept going.

She managed to make it to the doorstep and was able to bring her hand up for a half-assed knock before her legs gave out. She remembered hearing the door open, and the touch of soft hands, but for a while, the rest was a haze.

X X X

When Lina woke up again, she found that she was warm and dry, and very thirsty. She opened her eyes slowly, then squinted, the sunlight streaming through the window overhead almost like an assault.

"Urgh," she groaned. She heard rustling, and immediately, the drapes her drawn and the light faded to something dim. When she opened her eyes again, everything was blurred, but she could still see.

Someone walked over to her side, looking haunted and confused. Her hair, the style unchanged, was streaked with pure white within the gentle purple colour. The eyes, a dark green, were lined faintly and tired-looking.

Lina stared, speechless. Then she said, "What the hell, Sylphiel?" The sound of her voice was horrible, but Sylphiel smiled all the same.

"Hello, Lina-san," she said softly. She reached forward and placed a hand to Lina's forehead, checking for fever.

"What the hell are you doing here in a place like this?" Lina demanded. "You never said you were moving to some obscure place!"

Sylphiel's smile looked painful. "I don't live here," she answered. "I was summoned here."

Lina blinked. "Summoned?"

Sylphiel nodded. "You were found almost four days ago."

Lina felt the blood drain from her face. Sylphiel took the time to reach over and give her a cup of cold water. She took it, sitting up slowly and drinking it eagerly.

"Honestly, I had no idea it was you when I was summoned," Sylphiel explained. "All they told me was that you looked like you were on death's doorstep and they needed someone as soon as possible."

Lina snorted, setting down the empty glass. "You have no idea how right they were, Sylphiel," she said dryly.

Sylphiel smiled back, her smile just as sardonic. "You know I love a good story, Lina-san," she replied. "Do tell."

So she did. Lina told her everything, stopping only for more water and something to eat. By the time she was finished, night was falling, and Sylphiel's eyes were huge.

"Lina-san," she breathed out. "That's…incredible."

Lina shrugged, looking down at her hands. "I guess," she muttered. "I just want to go home. I just want to hold my daughters, and touch Gourry's face again…"

Sylphiel gently placed a hand on hers. "Where do you think they could be?" she asked softly.

Lina shrugged again, looking younger than she was. "Knowing Gourry, he went a little nuts." She smiled at this, but it was a sad smile. "If he's okay, I think his first instinct would be to go to Seyruun."

"To get help from Amelia-san and Zelgadis-san," Sylphiel nodded. "Yes, that sounds correct."

Lina looked serious. "Do you think you could come with me?" she asked. "I just feel…" she held up her hands, giving an embarrassed laugh. "I feel very, very alone right now."

Sylphiel shook her head. "You're not. I'm with you. I'll come with you."

Lina felt her throat go sore. She looked away and nodded. "We'll go tomorrow," she said thickly, wiping her eyes hurriedly.

Sylphiel pretended not to notice. She stood up and touched Lina on the shoulder gently. "Good idea. You sleep, and in the morning, we'll set off first thing."

Lina nodded again, still looking away. Even after all of these years, she still wasn't comfortable with showing her friends her vulnerable side.

Without another word, Sylphiel shut the door behind her. Lina could hear her speaking to the owners of the house, and she felt another rush of gratitude. She lay back down, curled up on her side, and just let it all out, without restraint. It was a relief to able to grieve for all that she had gone through, and it was a greater relief to know that it was almost over.

As she drifted into an exhausted sleep, her thoughts were on home.


	11. Victory

Even after Gourry had run himself ragged from his tears, he wouldn't move from the floor. He knelt to the ground, on his hands and knees, his head lowered, unmoving except to take in a few hoarse breaths.

In his mind, he figured that, if Lina wasn't coming back, then there was just no point in getting to his feet.

Zelgadis and Amelia spent the time on Graudy, much to the older brother's dismay.

"We need to know something," Zelgadis said harshly, his own voice thick. Amelia nodded form his side, her eyes full, but tinged with deep hate amidst the sadness.

Graudy gulped, but even then, when his eyes fell on his brother, huddled on the ground, he also felt a faint glow of satisfaction. "What makes you think I know anything?" he demanded.

Zelgadis clenched his jaw and shot a look to Amelia. Amelia nodded abruptly, and without another sound, Zelgadis drew his sword and held the blade to Graudy's throat. "Even a coward like you would know at least one thing in exchange for your miserable excuse for a life," he growled.

"Enough," Gourry's voice cut through Zelgadis's words. Both Amelia and Zelgadis looked over, and Gourry was sitting on, still on his knees, his head in his hands. "His life is worth shit," he concluded harshly. "Leave him to deal with my father."

"But Gourry-" Zelgadis protested.

"Gourry-san, he sent Lina-san to her death!" Amelia burst out.

Gourry looked up, his eyes dull. "You think I don't know that?" he said, in an eerie, monotone voice. "I know what he did. And I also know my father. The best punishment for him would be to see it to the end."

Graudy went pale, which only proved Gourry's words true. Zelgadis sighed, then sheathed his sword. Amelia turned on her heel, raised a hand, and slapped Graudy across the face as hard as she could. Graudy staggered back and lost his footing, falling to the floor.

He got up to counter Amelia's hit, but one look at the chimera standing there, and the hate shared in all three pairs of blue eyes, stopped him in his tracks. Without another glance, the two turned to their fallen friend.

Amelia knelt down first, mostly because Zelgadis gave her a helpless look. She gently touched Gourry's shoulder and squeezed. "Gourry-san," she said softly. "Do you think you can stand up?"

Gourry sighed, shutting his eyes again. His throat still felt clogged up, but no more tears would come. He knew the moment he saw Yuki and Ana, they would. He also wondered how he could possibly even consider going home, a place with so many memories, with Lina's presence still in the air...

He must have been silent for a long time, because Amelia squeezed his shoulder harder and murmured his name again. He looked up slowly, into her kind face, and suddenly found that perhaps he could cry after all.

Amelia looked up at Zelgadis with a frown. "It's like he's here one moment, then gone the next," she said softly. Both looked at Gourry, and saw how blank his eyes were, how expressionless his face was, and together came to a decision.

Zelgadis went to Gourry's other side, and together, they took hold of an arm and, with difficulty, hoisted Gourry to his feel. He swayed unsteadily, but they held him in check, and soon started towards the door.

"Wait!" Graudy called after them, scrambling to his feet. "What if that Xellos comes back?"

Zelgadis looked over his shoulder and bared his teeth. "Then you can rest assured that you did your duty," he snapped. Without another word, the three walked out of Graudy's room, and out of Elmekia, for good.

X X X

The journey back to Seyruun was long. Everyone once and a while, Gourry would just stop, drop down to his knees, and cover his face with his hands. No matter how hard they tried, Zelgadis and Amelia couldn't get him back to his feet again. He would sometimes even fight them, leaving them to end up pitching camp for the night, even if it was only mid-day.

Distantly, Gourry felt sorry for them, but only if he actually stopped to think about them. It was selfish, he knew, but even when they had left Elmekia behind, he still felt dead inside, still found himself silently pleading to whatever was listening to correct what had happened and make it turn out alright again.

And when the reality of it all came crashing down, he would just break, and there was nothing Zelgadis or Amelia could do to help him, except wrap a blanket around him when he fell asleep. They, too, were grieving, but they were fortunate; they had eachother. Gourry's partner in life, his support, his other half, was dead. He didn't have anyone.

That alone was too hard to bear.

X X X

Amelia hurried ahead of Zelgadis and Gourry, wanting to prepare Gracia for the news that they were coming home with, as well as checking to see if the girls were up to receive taking the emotional blow she had to give them.

She found her sister and the girls in the middle of what looked like a very intense card game, one that Gracia looked horribly stressed over, while Ana looked bored and Yuki looked proudly smug. The look on Yuki's face was so like Lina's that it took Amelia's breath away, and she had to back out of the doorway and calm herself.

It was hard to accept it all. Lina had been, at the start, a hero to Amelia. Then, as they traveled and grew up together, it became a grudging respect, then a love-hate friendship, until, finally, it became a friendship that both women knew would never dissolve, despite the fighting and disagreements. To have Lina suddenly vanish from her life without a warning was, to say the least, very hard to accept.

When Yuki threw down her cards and crowed in triumph, causing Gracia to squeal and whine, Amelia smoothed out her hair and walked back into the room. All three looked up, and when they saw her, Ana jumped down with a shout and threw herself at Amelia's legs.

"Ame-san!" she said happily. "You're back! Where're Mommy and Daddy? Did you find Mommy?"

Both Yuki and Gracia got to their feet slowly, seeing the look in Amelia's eyes when Ana mentioned Lina. Gracia frowned, deeply, but Yuki could tell with just one look that the journey had been for nothing and that they had failed.

"Where's Dad?" Yuki demanded, her voice harsher than she intended.

Amelia swallowed. "In the infirmary. He's not hurt!" she added hastily, seeing Yuki's look. "He's just...not all there."

Ana instantly caught the mood and looked up, her smile gone. In its place were fast tears. "Where's Mommy?" she asked softly, not expecting answer.

Amelia opened her mouth to reply, but Yuki cut in. "Ana-chan," she said sharply. "Let's go visit Dad, okay?" Ana let go of Amelia and nodded, and together, hand in hand, they walked out of the room.

Gracia walked over to Amelia and held out her arms. Gratefully, Amelia sank into them, sniffling, but unable to cry much more than that.

"She didn't make it, huh?" Gracia said softly, her eyes half open. "Despite all of her claims over the years of being the best of the best..."

Amelia sighed, shutting her eyes tight. "I don't understand, Gracia-san," she murmured. "When Xellos-san came and told us that she had...how she had...it was strange."

Gracia nodded. "What did he say? Did he say he killed her?"

Amelia shook her head. "No, he said she killed herself."

Gracia jerked back, her eyes wide. "What?" she cried. "That doesn't sound like the Lina I know!"

Amelia shrugged helplessly. "I wish I knew the whole story. I just know that it's true. Xellos-san doesn't lie, per se. He tends to avoid answering, or embellish the truth, but actually lie? No..."

Gracia gently put a hand to her sister's cheek. "What has happened has happened. You're home now, and you need your rest." When she spoke, her lips twitched, and Amelia wondered if Gracia was actually as calm as she was acting.

But she nodded all the same. "Yes," she agreed. "I'll do that." She wiped her eyes, gave Gracia's hand a touch, then walked out of the room.

Gracia stood there, her eyes filling. Without a sound, she dropped to the floor on her knees and wept.

X X X

Unaware of what was going on without her, Lina stood with Sylphiel on the outskirts of Seyruun. Sylphiel waited patiently behind her, knowing that she needed time to gather herself before she went on.

With a deep sigh, Lina tossed her hair back and nodded. Without a word, they started towards the city.

X X X

While Gourry lay in the infirmary, surrounded by his daughters in shared grief, and while Zelgadis paced in front of Amelia, raging and ranting while she listened with a heavy heart, Lina and Sylphiel walked the semi-crowded streets of Seyruun's capital without much incident.

Granted, Lina found that a couple of people gave her strange, confused looks, but she figured that they were either seeing her for the first time in a few decades and realised that she aged just like a normal human, or they were puzzled by her baggy clothes, which were loaners from Sylphiel.

When they reached the grounds close to the Palace, both women froze in their tracks.

The flags were half-mast.

"Oh, no," Sylphiel whispered behind her hands.

"Who the hell are they mourning?" Lina growled, rushing forward. "It better not be Gourry!"

She ran, as fast as she could, not waiting to see if Sylphiel was following her. She could hear the other woman's protests, but she flat-out ignored them, feeling a sudden pain in her chest. Seyruun didn't just lower the flags for anyone, and Gourry was an ally of Seyruun, no matter how much Lina teased him.

"I'll kill him if he's done something stupid!" she growled.

X X X

"Amelia-hime!"

The voice was urgent and panicked. Zelgadis instantly pulled away from her, and she got up from the bed, grabbing her shirt and pulling it over her head in a flash. She got to the door and swung it open. Three palace guards stood there, looking faintly singed and very unhappy.

"Amelia-hime," the middle one said mournfully, "there's...a huge problem at the front gates."

Zelgadis joined her side, buttoning up his tunic. "What kind of problem?" he demanded.

Amelia felt it in her gut. Her eyes went wide, and she felt as if she couldn't breathe. Without a word, she brushed past the guards and went running down the hallway.

Zelgadis looked after her, then turned back to the guards. "What kind of problem?" he repeated.

"We weren't sure. In fact, we're still not sure," a second guard said, looking pale under her armour. "Two women came up to the gateway while we were on duty, in a complete hurry, and the first one just started screaming at us, demanding answers about the flags that we've kept half-mast to honour Lina-dono's passing, and..."

Zelgadis's gut suddenly clenched. His eyes raked the armour of the guards again, and this time actually took in the damage with concentration. Burn marks.

"It can't be!" was his response. He turned away from the guards and followed Amelia, calling after her.

X X X

Lina couldn't help herself. She had been woken up in the middle of the night, forced to fight in a nightie, then kidnapped, murdered, sent back to life, only to sleep in a stranger's house and end up having to wear baggy uncomfortable clothes while trying to find her wayward husband. When one is given lemons, one makes lemonade, right?

And Seyruun's pacifist soldiers make excellent lemonade.

"One more time!" Lina crowed, feeling like herself for a change. She drew her hands forward, and, ignoring poor Sylphiel's cries of desperate protest, flung out another Fireball, which took care of the second wave of soldiers nicely.

Lina brushed her hands together and smiled. Sylphiel danced on the spot, furious. "Lina-san!" she scolded, something that would have been effective, if Lina hadn't been immune to it by now. "How are we supposed to get in if you keep blowing everyone up? They'll think we're criminals!"

Lina turned to her with indignation. "What are you talking about, Sylphiel?" she demanded. "Years ago, Amelia set it up so that they would let myself or anyone from my family in, no questions asked! Those bastards deserved what they got, calling me an imposter and telling me to leave!"

Sylphiel stood her ground, something she had learned to do many years ago, and something that Lina was secretly happy about. It made things more fun. "You can't go around blowing people up!" Sylphiel persisted. "I'm sure if you just ask them nicely what is going on, they will tell you!"

"To hell with that!" Lina snapped. "That's goddamn boring!"

"You have a filthy mouth!" Sylphiel shot back.

"What did you say?" Lina got right into her face, which was exactly what Sylphiel had been aiming for. With a lunge, she grabbed onto the shorter woman's wrists and held them in check.

Lina growled, but Slyphiel just rolled her eyes. "Just THINK for once, Lina-san!" she said, her voice soft. "If Seyruun is grieving, do you really think they need more trouble?"

Lina sighed, and the mask she was wearing dissolved. In its place was a face of pure and unrestrained worry and fear. "But what if..." she looked down. "What if it IS Gourry?"

Sylphiel gave her hands a squeeze. "It won't be."

"But..."

"It won't be!" Sylphiel persisted.

Lina opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by a loud and shrill shriek. Both her and Sylphiel jumped and turned around.

Amidst the smoking remains of the gate and the strewn guards stood Amelia, looking as white as a sheet. Her eyes, as they watched, filled with tears, and with another shriek, she ran forward, tripping over a few of the guards in her haste.

She didn't fall until the last minute, and Lina caught her. It made them both feel about 20 years younger. Amelia reached out and clung to Lina so hard it actually hurt, and when she looked helplessly at Sylphiel to help her, she looked just as bewildered.

"Lina-san! Lina-san, you're real! You're not a ghost! You're real!" Amelia was saying, her voice so high-pitched it was grating to Lina's ears.

"What the hell, Amelia?" Lina sputtered, trying to squirm away.

Not even a minute later there was another shout, this one male, and, to the shock of everyone, even Amelia, Zelgadis followed Amelia's footsteps (albeit slower), walking up to her and giving her a tight hug.

"You're both going to kill me, you stupid idiots!" she choked out, hitting them half-heartedly with her palms.

Zelgadis let go, and Lina felt a jolt right in her chest. His eyes were wet. He cleared his throat and looked away, wiping his eyes. "Sorry," he said calmly. "I got carried away."

Amelia, however, was firmly glued in place and would not let go. Lina gave up and turned to Zelgadis, who was greeting Sylphiel with a gentle smile. "So, are you going to explain this to me?" she demanded, trying to drag Amelia's arms away from her middle. "Or are you just going to assault me?"

Zelgadis kept the smile, clearing his throat again. "Gourry came here and told us what happened, Lina."

Lina bit her lip, hard, to keep herself from asking the obvious question. "So you know that Xellos had me prisoner," she said.

He nodded.

"It was awful, Lina-san!" Amelia cried, her voice muffled. She had her face pressed to Lina's chest. "When we went to Elmekia to try and negotiate with Graudy-"

Lina jolted. "You went to Elmekia?" she yelped.

Amelia nodded. "And then Xellos-san told us you had...you had..." her voice trailed off.

Lina was the one who went pale this time. "He told you what I did, didn't you?" she asked gently.

Amelia nodded again, squeezing Lina tightly, taking the very breath out of the older woman.

"Augh, Sylphiel, I love Amelia, but this is too much!" Lina said pleadingly. Sylphiel smiled and walked to her side, gently pulling Amelia away from her waist. Amelia stood there, her lips trembling, too overwhelmed to speak. Sylphiel stood behind her, keeping her hands on her shoulders.

Lina put a hand to her forehead. "The flags. They're for me." Her voice was flat, but she was embarrassed.

"We had thought you were dead," Zelgadis said softly. "We just..."

"Ciephied. You're all a bunch of wusses," Lina smiled gently. "I would rather you take the grief and use it to kick the shit out of people!"

"Lina-san," Amelia wailed, her eyes full again.

"You need to retrain your guards again!" Lina snapped. She hated seeing her friends sad, hated seeing them reduced to this agony just because of her. "They wouldn't let me in! All I wanted to know was if Gourry was okay!"

Both Amelia and Zelgadis jumped at the same time. They both said his name at the same time.

Lina almost fell over. She knew exactly what THAT meant. "He still thinks I'm DEAD?" she shouted. "You idiots!" She turned on her heel and, with her usual agility, hopped over the guards and broken stone and ran into the Palace.

"If you think about it," Zelgadis said softly, "really think about it, one would think that she's...mad at us for grieving for her?"

Sylphiel smiled, shaking her head. "No," she said. "She's just happy to be home."

X X X

Lina ran all over the Palace, looking for Gourry, shouting out his name and scaring the daylights and common sense out of the guards on duty. She was about to give up and scream bloody murder when she realised that she hadn't looked in the infirmary yet.

She ran in the direction, still shouting out Gourry's name. When she was about ten feet away from the door, a streak with brown hair dashed forward and collided with her right on. Both fell over, but Lina didn't mind. She knew that streak better than she knew herself. And when Ana held her in a choke hold and screamed out with joy, she didn't wince.

Very soon, a second body was thrown on the pile, this one quieter but stronger, and Lina found herself laughing and crying at the same time.

"You spoiled brats," she choked out, "get the hell off me!"

Ana screamed again, and Yuki laughed, and in reply, they held on tighter.

There was a loud thud, and all three looked up and over. Gourry was kneeling in the doorway, his face practically bleeding complete disbelief, trembling from head to foot. His eyes were bright, and on hers. Lina gently pushed the girls away, got to her feet, and walked over to Gourry, standing in front of him.

He looked up at her, the tears streaking down already stained cheeks, and she looked down at him, smiling through her own tears.

"I'm back," she said softly. "You weren't worried, were you?"

Gourry's face crumpled, and he fell forward, grabbing her and wrapping his arms around her waist, burying his face into her stomach. He needed to make sure that she was real, that she was here, and not just a dream or a trick from a Mazoku. She placed her hands on the top of his head gently as he sobbed, whispering soothing noises of comfort to him. Soon, she felt small hands grab onto her again, and she closed her eyes, smiling, breathing in this feeling, this family that was hers, and she felt content.

When she was sure that Gourry was calm, she pulled him away and knelt down in front of him. Ana suddenly squeaked and backed away, and Yuki followed her lead.

Lina's eyes were blazing, and her smile was deadly.

Gourry paled.

"What's this I hear about you wanting to give up your life for my sake?" she said quietly, her voice dripping with pure threat. "Did you really have no faith in my ability to be able to come home? Do you really think that I would leave my daughters with YOU?"

Gourry tried to scuttle backwards, but the doorway blocked him. "I just...I didn't...I was..."

Lina bared her teeth, her eyes practically on fire. "You really...are such...a JELLYFISH!" She flung herself forward, both fists out, and they connected, one fist with his jaw, the other with his stomach. He yelped, fell over, and lay there, completely and utterly dazed.

Lina stood up and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "HONESTLY," she breathed out.

Gourry wheezed, sitting up and rubbing his face. "You didn't have to hit so hard," he complained, sounding sulky.

She turned and glared at him. "It's the least that you deserve," she replied. She held the glare for a few more seconds, then smiled, walked back over to him, and knelt down beside him. Gourry started to edge back again, but she stopped him, sliding her arms around his neck and pressing herself close to him. He held her tightly, closing his eyes.

Ana opened her mouth to scream, but Yuki punched her shoulder, and she shut up. She grabbed her younger sister by the arm and started to drag her away. Ana protested, but when she heard her mother whispering to her father softly, she knew it was best to leave them alone. "Let's find Gracia-san and have her chase us," Ana said.

Yuki smiled. "For once you said something smart," was her reply.


	12. Epilogue: Conclusion

Lina gaped at the woman in front of her. "Where the hell were YOU hiding for the past two days?" she demanded.

Gracia put a hand to her mouth and laughed loudly, causing everyone, even Amelia, to wince. "That doesn't matter! And you owe me money!"

True to Lina's words, it had bee a couple of days since Lina and Sylphiel had made their way back to Seyruun. In those two days, Lina had not only bullied the colour party to raise the flags, because obviously she wasn't dead, she had also managed to bully the palace staff into giving her, Gourry, and her daughters the best guest suite in the entire kingdom. When Amelia protested, Lina completely milked it for what it was worth, and reminded the princess that, hey, she had been DEAD.

The first day had been a series of the above, as well as a series of reunions. Poor King Philionel, upon hearing about Lina, had been so distraught that he declared the entire week "Lina Inverse Week", much to the humiliation and dismay of its namesake. When Lina exploded about it, Phil refused to revoke it, until Lina threatened to make another hole in the city like she had 20 years ago.

However, there was one reunion that she had walked into with joy: the one with Gourry, that very night. Throughout the day, Gourry wouldn't leave her side, and while she, deep down, was so relieved about it that it made her want to weep, she outwardly make a stink about it. Gourry, however, knew her well enough to never once consider taking her seriously, and when the night time came, those tears came, and it was probably one of the most perfect nights with Gourry in her entire life.

The second day consisted of making it clear to Seyruun and everyone else that she was NOT dead, "so please stop screaming and running away from me!" she had screamed out towards the backs of a couple of merchants she had wanted to haggle with.

The third day, when everyone was sitting down to a quiet breakfast (Lina had already broken two of Amelia's plates and was about to destroy a third over Gourry's head), when Gracia had walked in and scared the plate out of her hands and onto the floor. (Amelia sighed in a suffering manner when it broke.)

"I don't owe you anything!" Lina snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. "You decided that it would be funny to get wasted and nearly bankrupt us! I couldn't live like that anymore!"

Gracia held out her hand. "Pay up!"

Lina slapped it away.

Gracia narrowed her eyes. "Oh, so that's how it's going to be, is it?"

Amelia and Zelgadis both sighed at the same time. Lina decided that now was the time to embarrass them. "Synchronised sighing," she teased. "A true sign of a couple sharing a brain."

Gourry reached over and grabbed Lina's stack of pancakes. Lina turned away from her victims and smashed another plate onto his head. He retaliated by grabbing a handful of her sausages as well, chuckling in triumph.

"Indeed," Zelgadis smirked.

Lina was on him in a second. "What did you say?" she shouted.

Yuki tossed a latke at her mother. "Stop acting like this!" she said, looking tormented. "You're embarrassing us!"

Ana jumped up and grabbed the latke with her mouth.

Yuki gaped at her. "Nevermind."

Gracia decided that being ignored was no fun, but being hungry was much worse. She sat down and joined them.

X X X

Once breakfast was finished, the discussion started.

"Are we going home now?" Ana demanded from Gourry's lap. "I've explored everywhere and now I'm bored."

Amelia tilted her head. "Everywhere?" she said in quiet shock. "It took me until I was 13 to find everything!"

Lina picked at her teeth shamelessly. "We really should head home," she agreed. "I just really hope you locked the doors to the shop when you left, Gourry."

Gourry blinked hard. "Locked the shop?" he echoed, looking pale.

Lina stared at him, then burst out, "You idiot! How could you forget something so simple?"

Gourry started laughing the minute she started shouting. The shouts turned to screams, and Ana jumped down calmly while Lina punched Gourry senseless.

Zelgadis sighed, and Amelia frowned at the two. "You're setting a really bad example for Ana and Yuki!" she said. "Is it like this at home all the time?" This was directed at Yuki.

The blonde shrugged. "It's amusing."

Sylphiel laughed. "I really have to make more of an effort to visit," she admitted.

When Gourry was successfully pummelled, Lina sat back down and calmly resumed the conversation. "I think we'll be ready to leave in a few days."

Amelia shifted in her seat. Lina sighed, glaring daggers at her. "Fine, tomorrow, you cheapskate."

Amelia slammed her hands down on the table. "You did the same thing to me at your wedding, eating the royal treasury into near-bankruptcy the way you did! I don't even know how you keep Ana and Yuki alive!"

Ana grinned. "She overcharges everyone!" she declared, her arms out.

Yuki nodded sagely. "And the rest she picks up from bandits."

Lina went bright red, looking instantly guilty. Gourry gave her a look of pure poison. "You promised not to do that anymore," he said.

Lina held up her hands. "I said I would TRY!"

Gourry grabbed her cheeks and tugged. Lina shrieked shoved her fingers into his nose.

Gracia stared, fascinated by all of this. "And this is normal behaviour?" she wondered, mystified.

Zelgadis shook his head. "This is actually tame compared to how it was at the beginning."

Both Amelia and Sylphiel laughed in a painful way.

"Mom, focus," Yuki said. "Home?"

Lina shoved Gourry away and nodded. "Tomorrow!" she agreed. She stood up and put her hands on her hips. "But before we leave, I think we should hit the merchant booths again. I want to see if they can give me a discount for being alive again!" she laughed and left the room. Gourry got up and chased after her, calling, "You'd exploit anyone and anything for an extra dollar!"

Yuki slid down and followed, shrugging. Ana screamed out in joy and followed, her arms still flung out and in the air.

They left behind a bewildered silence.

X X X

When all was said and done, and the Inverse family finally settled back home and finally accepted that Lina wasn't going to vanish again into the night, and their routine resumed like normal, Gourry finally found the courage to ask Lina the question that had haunted him ever since Xellos had told him.

"Did you kill yourself, Lina?"

Lina turned around, blinking. It was night time, and they were in bed together. In the moonlight, Gourry's eyes were like silvery sapphires. She sighed, touching him on the cheek lightly. "I already told you what happened," she said.

He moved closer to her, sliding his arms around her, as if he was afraid she would vanish right then and there. "But did you actually do it to kill yourself?"

Lina sighed deeply. "Yes," she said. "Yes, I did."

Gourry inhaled sharply. "Why?"

"Because I had no choice," she snapped.

"Lina, you always say that if you face an enemy stronger than you, you'll do anything to beat them down." His face was so serious, she wanted to hide. "But it sounds to me like you gave up. Why did you do it?"

Lina hesitated, searching his eyes. When his gaze didn't waver, her resolve did. "Gourry, do you remember when you chased the Lord of Nightmares?"

He nodded.

"And do you remember when you grabbed it, and it vanished, and I came back?"

He repeated the gesture.

Lina chewed on her lip, then continued. "When I thought about it later, I had thought about something: technically, I wasn't supposed to be there anymore. Technically, according to magical law, I wasn't supposed to exist."

Gourry blinked, and she could already see his eyes starting to glaze over. She rolled her eyes. "When you pick a flower," she tried again, "you can't just try and plant it back into the ground without roots, right?" When he nodded, she went on. "When I cast that spell, and Phibrizzo attacked me, I was that flower."

Gourry's eyes focussed. "Oh," he said. "So you thought, when you came back, even though you didn't have roots, you should still be plucked?"

Now Lina was confused. "What the hell?" she demanded.

Gourry crossed his eyes. "That was a bad analogy!" he moaned.

Lina grabbed his shoulders and shook him. He let his head loll to the side, sticking out his tongue. She shook him harder, and he laughed. "Shut up, you jellyfish! You were the one that wanted to be serious!"

Gourry giggled a bit more, then cleared his throat. "Okay, I'm sorry," he said, not sounding at all convincing. "Try again."

"Look, Gourry, when the Lord of Nightmares brought me back that time, I thought it was going to be temporary," she said. "I wasn't sure if or when it would grab me back, so I tried to forget about it. It's like a debt: I called it forth, but since I had died, it decided to go back home. That should have ended it, but instead, it brought me back. Follow?"

Gourry closed his eyes. "I'm trying so hard," he moaned.

Lina growled. "LISTEN!" she cried. "I killed myself because I thought that I had to fix the balance that was corrupted when I was brought back!" Gourry instantly sobered, and she went on. "I wanted to be the one to do it. It was my right, my choice. It wasn't because I didn't want to live..." she looked away. "More like, I wanted so badly to live, but knew that I couldn't, that I just wanted to get it over with so that I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore."

Gourry reached forward and slid his hands through her hair. She closed her eyes and purred faintly. "I'm glad you were wrong," he said softly. Lina snuggled closer, pressing her face into his chest. She nodded. "Me, too," she agreed. She smiled, breathing in Gourry's scent, relishing the feel of his fingers through her tresses. "Me, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's Conclusion: And that's the end! I'm, of course, leaving a few things open, as I am wont to do, in case I want to continue this someday. I hope that doesn't piss too many people off. I also hope that the ending was alright. I'm bad at endings. I like to keep writing and writing and writing. I'm actually surprised I could end this; to be honest...it was truly rewarding to write.
> 
> Special thanks to KawaiiGourry, who, despite our differences, still read this fic to the end and was able to accept the changes I made to it. And no thanks go to Relm, who never reads my stuff so won't know I'm making fun of him right now! Bwahahaha!
> 
> And finally, thank you to everyone who took the time to read to the end and write me reviews. Your words kept me focused and kept me on track. I heart you.


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